Focus Group Feedback

The audience for my music video is a mixed gender, young adult audience aged between 16 and 25. I feel this matches the genre of the song’s main profile, as indie/rock music is most popular with young adults and particularly students. Hence, my focus group comprises of the following:

• 16 year old female
• 17 year old female
• 17 year old male
• 18 year old female
• 19 year old male
• 21 year old male

I feel this focus group gives me the spread of people within my target audience required to gain the necessary information about what the audience desire in a music video. In particular, I asked them about my ideas for my music video. The feedback I received was mainly positive, with some suggestions. They liked:

• The shock ending in the narrative
• The song choice
• The possible idea of using distorted images to distinguish between ‘today’ and the ‘memories’ in the narrative
• The use of a student-age couple in the narrative for audience association
• The focus on the vocalist and not the band
• The choice of location for the vocalist


They suggested:

• The couple featuring the narrative must look natural and compatible for authenticity and effect
• The use of some guitar/instrumental close-ups to appeal to the more musically-inclined audience
• The vocalist’s expression must suit the music and lyrics, like in ‘Run’
• The editing must ensure the video is slow-paced to match the music

Snow Patrol - Run (2003)

The video to this song involves progressive events, represented by the lighting. The beginning is set during dusk, and the sky progressively darkens. The dark setting allows for the director to illustrate the lyrics ‘light up’ in the chorus, as the vocalist, who is the video’s main focus, holds a flare that lights up the setting. This is a feature of Goodwin’s Theory, as the on-screen events illustrates the lyrics. The constant darkness before the first chorus also amplifies the extra lighting once it arrives – this is a use of juxtaposition between light and dark.

Furthermore, the vocalist uses many facial expressions to convey his feelings that match the song. He looks upset and choked at ‘makes it so hard not to cry’. Here, the video matches the mood created by the song, and so adds to the meaning created by the music. Again, this is a feature of music videos identified by Goodwin.

The video is comprised of close-ups of the vocalist mixed in with long-shots of the setting and his movement. The close-ups show his emotions, ths creating meaning, whilst the long-shots allow the audience to see how remote his location is. This is effective, as people can empathise with a supposed need to be alone when feeling unhappy. It arguably also links in with the song title ‘Run’, as he has run from his problems. Furthermore, when the song becomes more uplifting other members of the band become present, showing he’s no longer alone and suggesting that he can see a silver lining.

The chorus is cohesively synchronous with the flares due to the link between ‘light up’ and the visuals. The flares are not seen during the verses, which represents a difference in mood and thoughts between verse and chorus. The throwing of the flare is in-synch with the increased pace of the music, and the motorbike is re-introduced here too. This is an example of the visuals being linked to the music. This is also seen at the end, as the song reaches its conclusion. The lit bike falls into the water in slow-motion, and slows as the song slows, stopping its movement when the song stops. This constant linkage between music and visuals controls the mood of the audience.

I chose to analyse this video because my song is also by Snow Patrol. I have drawn inspiration from this video, as the mood of my song is similar. As such, I will also have some focus on the vocalists, and attempt for his mood to match the mood created by the music and lyrics. There is no separate narrative in this video, but I still aim to include one in mine to help me create more explicit meaning in conjunction with the song.

Mood Board

Questionnaire - Forgive The Rubbish Formatting

Questionnaire

Please circle your answer

1. What gender are you?

Male Female

2. How old are you?

0-12 13-14 15-16 17-18 19-25 26+

3. What music genres do you like?

Pop Rock R’N’B Hip-hop Metal Country

Rap Indie Other

4. Do you like to see the artist in their music video?

Yes No

5. Do you like to see a narrative/story in music videos?

Yes No

6. Do you like to see live performance in music videos?

Yes No

7. Do you like to see lip-synching in music videos?

Yes No

8. Where do you watch music videos?

TV YouTube MySpace Other

9. What music video channels do you watch?

MTV The Box Kerrang Q Magic

Kiss The Hits VH1 Scuzz NME

10. Does the music video change your opinion of a song?

Yes No Other (please comment)

Thank you for completing this questionnaire.

Sven E Carlsson's Theories - Summary

Music videos are a complex visual phenomenon.

The performer is, in effect, a salesman of his/her (or the artists, if they do not feature) music, and as such they need to be as appealling and persuasive as possible. This means the representation of the artists/performers are vitally important, rendering the modern-day music video to be one of the most important variables in the popularity of a song. Due to the vast access to music videos, they are consumed constantly and in huge quantity. Therefore, it is inevitable that the artist needs to sell. This is similar to Goodwin's theory of voyeurism.

Because of their importance in the modern music industy, a strong narrative with meaning is needed. It is paramount that the videos have a narrative that anchors the video, which the viewer can both understand and relate to. Therefore, music videos often have feelings and views expressed in them that often connect to the song and the artist.

Furthermore, music videos are essentially a visual tool. The images are as important as the song itself - a fantastic music video gives songs longevity that, without, they never would have had. Therefore, the imagery, lyrics and music are all interdependent and vital to the success of a video, and thus the song.

Similarly to Goodwin's theories, Carlsson also explains that the music and lyrics matching the visuals is an effective technique in music video as it helps create meaning and project it to the audience. Also, the two main motifs in the video should be both performance and narrative to both represent the band fully and create meaning. Hence, the majority of videos include both motifs.

Music videos are effectively like films. They need to be understandable and easy to follow whilst entertaining the viewer. The aim of a music video is to represent the artist and to create visual narration. Therefore, the videos often include the vocalist, other band members, artistic features and a narrative.

The performance clips in videos can comprise any of the following: song performance, dance performance and instrumental performance. Depending on the genre of the song and the desired representation of the artists, the types of performance included differs. For example, Girls Aloud use song and dance performance as they aim to be sexy, cool and talented, whilst rock bands may prefer instrumental performances to again express the skills and talent levels of the artist.

In terms of clips, most videos include performance, narrative and artistic clips, but some consist of just one of these. Again, this is dependent on genre and representation. Rock bands often use concert performances in videos, or alternatively just have a narrative if the lyrics involved tell a story on their own. Modern, experimental music can solely be dependent on artistic clips to express the ground-breaking nature of the music or band.

An example of a narrative-only video is Hysteria by Muse:



Here, the lyrics are represented by the storyline, as the narrative matches it.

An example of a artistic-only video is Fell In Love With A Girl by The White Stripes:

My Lyrics

We'll do it all, everything, on our own
We don't need anything or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world

I don't quite know how to say how I feel
Those three words are said too much
They're not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world
Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

Let's waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads
I need your grace
to remind me
to find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world
Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes
They're all I can see
I don't know where
Confused about how as well
I just know that these things
Will never change for us at all

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world



The lyrics in red are being cut as I'll be clipping the song.

Noah and the Whale: 5 Years Time

This video takes a fun, light-hearted form which represents the song’s cheesy nature. There are many elements of nostalgia, and the video is filmed in an old-fashioned, amateur-like style that gives the impression of it being dated back to the band’s school times.

In terms of Goodwin’s Theory, this video uses the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals extensively. Throughout the video, the actors are matching the lyrics, for example ‘cigarettes’ and ‘wine’ are matched by somebody holding them. More evident, though, is the lyrics being written on-screen e.g. ‘sun sun sun’. This is used when words are repeated in the song, and it causes the viewer to remember the words. The words ‘sun’, ‘fun’ and ‘love’ are also what the song is all about, so this connects the song with the video strongly. Furthermore, it adds to the catchiness of the song as it is memorable.

The camera-work and editing effects such as the blotches on the screen and the old-fashioned transitions adds to the dated, nostalgic feel of the film. This matches the lyrics that suggest the younger years were fun and care-free. This makes the video appealing to both today’s youth and all adults who remember, and yearn for, their youth again. The fashion and props seen in the video adds to this, and the ‘5’ balloon links the visuals to the song title – this sub-consciously keeps the song in the viewer’s mind.

The iconography is a central aspect to this video. The dancing, hairstyles and clothes are all iconic of past times, therefore adding to the nostalgic feel. The band itself are dressed like this, which means those that enjoy the video relate to them meaning it promotes them favourably. They are the main feature of the video, and are named in the beginning too, ensuring they are a focal feature of the video, as per Goodwin’s Theory. This also helps to build a ‘star image’ of the band, despite them being dressed up. However, this does also add to the fun and lightheartedness of the video, as the band are happy to look silly and enjoy themselves.

Unlike The White Stripes video, the voyeurism here involves encouraging the viewer to look at the dancing, clothes, setting and props rather than encouraging desire for an attractive person. This causes the video to be friendly, fun and removes any potential discomfort or awkwardness in its viewing.

To conclude, this video adheres to many of Goodwin’s music video theory. The visuals are linked to both the lyrics (actions and words on screen) and the music (dance moves match the song’s rhythm), whilst building iconography and a star image. There is voyeurism to an extent, and people whose youth matches the times shown in this video may spot intertextual elements. Therefore, this video matches most, if not all, aspects of a typical music video as per Goodwin’s Theory.