Intro
My chosen topic of study is ‘Music Videos’, I chose this topic because I believe that there is a variety of resources to use for the project which is accessible from college. Furthermore I also wanted to continue with the music video idea because music has become more prominent in the world for example around 44.9 billion songs in the uk were streamed online, in 2016 alone. Additionally an estimated 6 million have a payed streaming account (Thecreativeindustries.co.uk, 2017), this could suggest that some of the population still stream music free which means theres still a large amount of the population that is unaccounted for. Music is also very influential to me because I listen to music every day and each day im surprised to find a new song or new genre that I like. The fact that for some people like me, music is something that is relatable for what ever emotion you’re feeling is very interesting. Looking at different music video’s, I found the thing that intrigued me the most was how the narrative relates to the song. This led me to ask ‘what is it about the narrative that contributes to creating an interesting music video?’. I have used different research methods (qualitative, quantative, secondary and primary) to gather data. From my research I expect to understand more about how the narratives relates to the audience and how it can be influential among the other elements to create an interesting music video.
Methodology:
To gather research I have used different research methods. The overwhelming research method I used was primary research. This mean’t that I accumalated research that was’nt out there already. Firstly I created a mind map which was useful in pinpointing what I needed to research and how it was going to help in the investigation. I then created a survey which I distributed onto social media to gather data which I then analysed to aid me in my research. From the analysis I found out a lot about how to appeal to my target audience. For example from my findings I gathered that I would get the most out of uploading the finished music video to YouTube as this is the platform that the majority of my target audience watches music videos on. A strength of this quantative research is that as it was a survey it enabled me to collect a larger amount of data then an interview. Although a weakness is that the answers was’nt as in-depth as it would be, had it have been an interview.
Extending on the primary research I have also focused more on my hypothesis and used social media to ask a variety of people the question ‘what makes narrative in a music video particulary intresting?’. I used this as a type of non-visual vox pop. I wanted to ask this question to gather a more in-depth answer about narrative which is an advantage of qualitative data. This enabled me to understand what exactly it is that people like about the narrative of a music video to aid me in the creation of my own. From this I found that the one thing that nearly all the comments stated, was that they found the idea of the narrative in a music video linking back to the lyrics in the song interesting. This means that it would be a good idea for me to think about how my music video will relate back to the lyrics of the song. From these two pieces of primary research I have used quantative (the survey) and qualitative (the non visual vox pop).
I used secondary research throughout my project to gather additional statistics. Furthermore I also used secondary research to get a clear idea of my target audience demographic and how to attract that audience. This secondary target audience research supported my primary research on the topic.
Findings
One thing that ultimately influenced my topic choice was the relation between narrative and lyrics. I found this subject very interesting and after researching this sub topic and using one song as a case study, I was able to breakdown and understand how every element; cinematography, lighting and location all work together. In addition my primary research resulted in the discovery that the better half of people that answered the question asked, also found that when the narrative supports the lyrics it makes it an interesting music video.
I also researched a couple different aspects that make up a music video such as cinematography and location. From this I found out how each aspect communicates to the audience. For example how a long shot is used as an establishing shot to show the audience the location of the music video. Furthermore I found out that in slower songs, one location is generally used. This could be so the audience would focus more on the artist and the music than to the surrondings.
These findings are important because it has given me a clearer idea on how I can use all this information to create a successful and interesting music video myself.
Conclusion
To summarise I used a variety of research methods and sources to gather well rounded information which included using qualitative and quantative data. After looking at my findings I realised that from analysing the relation between lyrics and narrative, it would be a good idea for me break down what I want to come of the finished music video. This is because when analysisng the music video case study I was able to really understand each aspect that came together to create an interesting music video which I would’nt of known before. From all my findings I was able to answer my hypothesis, looking back at my research I found that it is the way the narrative supports the lyrics that creates interest. This could be because the narrative links to the song lyrics and its that constant connection that the audience like. I believe that the by answering the hypothesis I can use this to create an interesting music video that attracts my target audience especially by using the intel gathered.
There were a few limitations within my primary research such as with my survey. As the survey was only distributed to a small percentage of people, the results may have been affected by this because the small percentage that answered the survey wouldnt produce an accurate representation of the population. By understanding the limitations within my work I can recognise for future reference that I could possibly try to distribute the survey to a larger amount of the population by social media etc. this would be to gather a larger and more accurate representative of the population.
References:
Thecreativeindustries.co.uk. (2017). Digital music. [online] Available at: http://www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk/industries/music/music-facts-and-figures/digital-music [Accessed 21 Apr. 2017].
Miahamber Media Productions 