Part 1

i thought i'd better put something up, just incase this got shut down for inactivity...

Part One Tom Horn

For my As task, I chose the printed press task, for his I had to create a magazine and decide upon my target audience and create my magazine to appeal to this audience through use of the correct forms and conventions found in the genre of magazine I wished to exploit. This task differs from my As task in that, instead of a printed output, this task demands that I use moving images and sound, this itself will change the way I have to represent different ages and styles of representation. The two tasks are similar in the respect that I have to decide upon and appeal to my target audience by once again using the correct forms and conventions. For the practical side of my production, I set up the different camera shots and filmed all of the footage, I also cut and edited the footage in iMovie.

For this task, I have needed to research music video’s, of all genre’s from Rap to metal, I have also created moods boards, questrionairres and created a focus group to help me discuss and finalise my ideas. For my video I choose the band Alexisonfire, a post hardcore band from Canada. I chose them because I am a fan of their music and I would be able to envisage and plan a video around one for their tracks. When it came to presenting my itch, I showed a short clip of a live performance and explained how I wished to create a live performance video with a dramatic storyline wrapped around it, which would amplify and follow the suggested lyrics in the song.

The tasks that I had to complete during the planning phase of the production consisted of a mood board, on which I put images of the band, guitars, and amplifiers, images that are a part of the “scene” that I was planning on trying to exploit. Whilst doing this, I decided upon my talent and how I wished to film my live performance sections. After this I created a questionnaire that I distributed at my place of work to 20 different people. The results from these gave me important information on how people access music and music videos. Once I had this information I began to see how I would need to present my video to appeal, not only to a small clique, but also to a mass audience. After I had done this I began to analyse other music videos, I looked at three different videos; 1 Rap song, 1 Pop song and 1 Metal video. After I had done this, and after watching many other videos, I had a clear picture in my head of how I wanted my video to look and what I wanted my finished video to look like. I then drew up my storyboard and created my animatic from this, which I then presented, to my focus group and from this feedback was able to mix and match my shots until I felt I had a decent plan and a possible video idea.

Whilst I was doing this work, I could have spent more time looking into different genres and styles involved in the making of music videos. I feel that after seeing my music video I stuck too rigidly to the conventions of a “rock/metal” music video and that I could have spent more time developing the narrative side of the video that concentrating on making the live performance look authentic. I also think that my mood board does little to explain what I intend to do in my video and appears as more of a brief introduction as to what the band looked like and not what I wanted my “talent” to look like. I feel that instead of using the bands photographs I should have posed my talent together as a band, which is what I did to the second mood board, which I presented to my focus group.

When it came to making decisions about which task I intended to carry out I had to make the decisions depending on the equipment available to me, when it came to actually constructing the order and style of the video, I used a similar style to that of the video’s of bands such as Dillinger Escape plan and Alexisonfire, to follow a pattern were in the verses, there is the developing narrative and then in the chorus the images and lyrics focus on the band and allow the audience to see the artists playing their instruments and follow the forms and conventions of a the music video of the “rock/metal” genre.

Whilst shooting the video I had to decide upon the locations of my shoots and the angles, shots and lighting. I found it difficult to arrange the lighting for the performance due to a lack of a lighting rig and my own stadium. But I felt that I made good use of the location I filmed and the lighting available to me. I think that I should have handled the decisions I had to make in a fairly intelligent way by replacing in effective narrative shots with better filmed and shot live performance shots, without compromising the conventions of a rock/metal video.

Also by avoiding the frustrations of not having the equipment I wanted and not going off into a massive bitter and self-indulgent hissy fit I was bale to get the footage I wanted and needed.

Questionaire Results

I'm not too sure on how to get the pictures of my graphs up here yet, but what I'll do is I'll post the graph and then the bit from my essay underneath it so you can get an idea of what I'm trying to go on about.

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My music video’s intended target audience are students in their late teens, who have easy access to either the internet or a sky or free view system with access to music channels on it. The genre that my chosen song belongs to is that of the “post hardcore” movement in America, more commonly labelled as just “metal” or “modern grunge” in the UK. Due to the nature and genre of my music video I would therefore expect it to be played on channels such as Kerrang! or MTV2.

I created a simple questionnaire which I handed out to twenty people at my place of work. I decided to use twenty people at work that I do not know so that I would not then be able to choose people I know. If I did this I would be able to influence my final results and allow me to create a video to follow my exact results.

The results were as followed.



This charts show the male/female split, I got an almost 50/50 split, which meant that I could get answers that were not predisposed to being overtly influenced by gender.


This chart shows the age range, I got a good spread from ages 16-24, exactly the audience I hoped for, the majority being 19-20, the exact age group my band themselves mainly appeal to. This age group are also the most likely to watch music television channels, as well as have access to the internet and new media technologies such as Ipods and video phones.


When asked which genre of music they listened to, the most popular response was rock music, this surprised me as I expected it to lean more towards Hip Hop and R&B, but as this allows me to feel confident about there being an audience who will be interested in my music video.

This graph shows me that people do watch a specific channel for their chosen genre of music and that they do not watch a variety of channels. This means that the channels I would like to see my video shown on, would attract the audience, purely through the style and specific taste of that channel.

This graph supports the answers given in both the above questions. It shows that the majority of my audience watch MTV2 a channel that shows predominantly rock music, which shows the trend of people watching a specific channel.

When asked if my target audience used the internet to watch music videos, nearly all of them said yes. Again this is useful for me as I know that even if my music video had poor circulation ion television there would still be an audience on the internet through sites such as YouTube or MySpace.

When asked if they like to see a narrative in a music video, unsurprisingly the majority said that yes they did. Those who said no where the R&B and Metal fans who videos usual portray the lifestyle or live performance and not a structured narrative throughout the video.

What was surprising however was the exact 50/50 split between those who liked to see live action and those who didn’t. But I feel that with the chosen genre I am creating a video for, I would be failing to meet the specific expectations of a rock music video.

The other two questions I asked were whether or not they felt it is important that it is easy top spot and label a video purely on the on screen image. My results showed how they felt it important that they could spot which genre a video belonged to, purely form the image created on screen. But they did not agree that it was an important trait for a music video to immediately belong. This is useful for me as it will allow me to blend different styles into my video, I will be able to use a variety of influences, mix up both live performance with a narrative and not have to worry about alienating my target audience.



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I dont know how to fit my graphs in :(

My Questionnaire

Music Video Questionnaire


1. Are you: Male Female

2. Age: 15-16 17-18 19-20 21-22 23-24

3: What genres of music do you listen to?

Rap Hip Hop R&B Jazz Rock Pop Punk Metal Alt.

4. Do you watch music channels specifically because of their specific choice in genre or style?
Yes No

5. What music channels do you watch?

MTV MTV2 MTVBase Magic VH1 Q/FHM

Kerrang! Scuzz Gold The Hits Other ____________________

6. Do you use the internet to watch music videos?
Yes No

7. When watching a music video do you expect to see a narrative story?
Yes No

8.When watching a music video do you prefer to see live action (band performing)?

Yes No

9. Do you think that in the music videos you watch the genre is easily identifiable by the style alone?
Yes No

10. Do you think that this is an important trait of the music video?

Yes No



Thank you.





Sorry if it looks a mess, it looked ok on my laptop screen when I published it. I handed this out to twenty random people at work and got them to fill it out, i should have the results and some pretty charts up later today.

The Lyrics

[George:] A man sits at his desk
One year from retirement,
And he's up for review
Not quite sure what to do.
Each passing year
The workload grows.

[Dallas:] I'm always wishing, I'm always wishing too late
For things to go my way
It always ends up the same
(Count your blessings)
I must be missing, I must be missing the point
Your signal fades away and all I'm left with is noise
(Count your blessings on one hand)

So wait up, I'm not sleeping alone again tonight.
There's so much to dream about, there must be more to my life

[George:] Poor little tin man, still swinging his axe,
Even though his joints are clogged with rust.

[Wade:] My youth is slipping, my youth is slipping away.
Safe in monotony, (so safe), day after day
(Count your blessings)
My youth is slipping, my youth is slipping away.
Cold wind blows off the lake, and I know for sure that it's too late
(Count your blessings on one hand)

[Dallas:] So wait up, I'm not sleeping alone again tonight
There's so much to dream about, there must be more to my life.

Can't help but feel betrayed, punch the clock every single day
There's no loyalty and no remorse.
Youth sold for a pension cheque
And it makes him fucking sick
He's heating up, he can't say no

(Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh)

So wait up, I'm not sleeping alone again tonight,
There's so much to dream about, there must be more to my life.
(So wait up)
So wait up I'm not sleeping alone again tonight
Between the light and shallow waves is where I'm going to die
Wait up for me
Wait up for me
Wait up for me


The lyrics :)

I'll sort out which parts will be done by who sharpish :)

My Song

I've picked the song 'Boiled Frogs' by the band, Alexisonfire,

I chose this song because it is a personal favourite and 'm guessing I'll be sick of this song by the time I'm finished so i might as well enjoy it for a while anyway..

Here we go...............Again!

ok, this is my final one,

fingers crossed i'll get some stuff up here sooner or later,

i promise