OUR INITIAL PROPOSAL + SURVEY RESULTS

First thoughts for the video… Song Options:-Two Door Cinema Club / What you know-Two Door Cinema Club / Cigarettes in the theatre-Daughter / Youth-Olivver the kid / The Woods

The Song - The Woods The song we have agreed on doing a music video for is “The Woods” by Olivver the kid.

We have chosen this song for many reasons one of them is because it has many sections with different tempos in the music especially between the verses/choruses. This is a great factor in my opinion because it’ll allow more fast/slow paced editing to happen with it still matching the music.

Secondly we’re drawn to this song is because of the lyrics and how they already have a meaning/story of their own and it would definitely be nice to bring this to life. This because when you do really look into the lyrics and think about them they are very relatable and you can understand what the artist was feeling at the time they were writing the song.

The artist - Olivver the kidOlivver the Kid is the solo project of Bryan Sammis, former drummer of The Neighbourhood, who left the group in January 2014.

He has since leaving the group released 2 EP’s “Freak” in 2014 and “The Boy who cried Wolf” which was released on the 16th of October 2015. Both these albums released by his own label ØV.

The Song - Lyrics analysis[Intro]

Waking up in the middle of the woods

Naked in the middle of the woods

[Verse 1]

I’ve seen all the wolves in this place

I’ve been a wolf in this place

I’ve been watching the rats in the race

I was a rat in the race

I’ve seen the love in me fade

I am no longer here: the place I fear, the place that fills me

You are: the words I feel, the knot that heals, the place I kneel to

This suggests that he’s changed and experienced both sides of the situation he’s in.

This verse of a song which is about addiction and being able to escape shows his journey before and during his addiction.

[Chorus](x2)

Tell me that you want to leave with me

Tell me that you want to go with me

Don’t you want to get out of here?

Out of the woods?

[Verse 2]

We walk down to the ocean, your sarcasm heavy laden on me

Your eye contact leaves a message

My love stacked on top of the trees

You brought me down to the river

& you pushed me in hoping that the white rapids would challenge my ability to swim

You are the words I feel

You’re how I deal

You’re who I run to

This lyric shows how he’s questioning himself about whether he wants to stop and escape this dark place in his life (the woods).

However if the song does talk about his love life as well it could also relate to how he’s feeling about the person he’s with.

This almost shows how he’s been faced with a challenge that could make or break him and overcome what he’s going through ( the “white rapids”)

We believe he is talking about how he relies on the person he’s in a relationship with and/or his addiction which he is going through and how it is hard to eascape for him.

[Chorus](x2)

[Verse 3]

I walk you down to the willow to show you the leaves

I say ‘they are just like us, ever changing into the breeze’

You pick up two handfuls

You tell me ‘they’re all dried up & dead’

You know that’s nothing like us

We’ll live forever instead

[Chorus](x5)

Tell me that you want to leave with me

Tell me that you want to go with me

Don’t you want to get out of here?Out of the woods?

This verse focuses on the fact he’s changed - looking on the positive side and focusing on the good of the woods instead of escaping it.

This in contrast to the two verses prior show the other side of “the woods” this being the negative side showing his urge to escape.

The repeating of the chorus emphasizes the questions he’s always thinking about and how he’s undecided on what he wants to do about the situation he’s in.

The storylineWe haven’t got a clear storyline planned currently for our video but we are planning on taking some inspiration from one of his other songs “World on fire” as we would like to make a video which fits with his previous work whilst still putting our own twist on it.

We were mainly thinking about the main location for the video being in a wooded area. This because maybe as part of the story the protagonist heads into the woods to escape from everyone around him. Also the woods would help to create more of a sense of isolation/entrapment because of the vast amount of trees.

We were thinking as well for some parts of the video to take place in the studio even though this isn’t a common convention in this genre. We believe if in the studio we project images/videos of the storyline over the actor it’ll suit the genre more but also create a more deeper meaning. This would almost be like the actor is telling the story whilst it’s playing out in front of them.

The storyline - Other notes we made during our discussion

Future audience planning and surveys

As part of the planning of the music video we have created an audience survey and currently are working on analysing the results. Also we have planned several interview questions and have planned to film a focus group discussion; all in which will help us to learn about our target audience.

These emails show that we have been given permission from the artist to use his track in our music video. We are very pleased that he has contacted us on a personal basis.

Audience Research Survey AUDIENCE RESEARCH SURVEY

Name three music videos that you like and are distinctive to you

To sum up:The Majority of people in this survey preferred alternative pop/indie music which corresponds to the genre of the song we have chosen for our project.Artists such as 1975, Nathaniel Rateliff, Kimberly Anne, two door cinema club, Lucy Rose, Lana Del Rey and Halsey, who have all been mentioned in this survey fit with our genre of alternative indie music and are all quite a similar style to Olivver the Kid. Therefore this suggests that to please the audience who will be watching and listening to our music video we need to do it in a style that is relevant to trends within this genre of music.

In your own words, what three things would make you want to re-watch a music video?

To sum up:From this survey question we can gather common things that our audience look for for them to want to re-watch a music video; these are:- Good narrative within the music video- The artist or band been in the video- Good quality film/ camera angles and

nice imagery- Catchy song- Different, interesting locations

From finding these results, we will use this information in the making and planning of our music video. This is so that our video is suited for our target audiences interests and preferred style of film to make them want to re-watch the music video

What features of an album cover would particularly stand out to you ?

To sum up:From our survey, we have collated design & style features of an album cover our respondents said would stand out to them. The most common features mentioned and what we can assume are most important in the design are:

- Bright or neutral colour scheme- Bold text- Art or graphics- Photograph of the artist or band - Nice font that corresponds with overall design - Good photography/ imagery- Overall Simplistic layout

Some of the listed criteria are opposing; like the colour scheme or what should be the main subject on the cover. Therefore in the production of the album cover we can experiment with different styles or designs that have been mentioned and see what fits with the overall music video and artist best.

In a magazine advertisement for a new single release, what would you look for to interest you into watching the music video?

To sum up:From our survey we can conclude that In order to interest the audience into watching and listening to a new single release that is advertised in a magazine, we would need to include:- Still images/ screenshots of parts of the music

video- Picture of artist - Nice photography - Interview quotations from artist or band member - Short reveiw - Context behind the song & what it means

In conclusion we can take that our target audience are more interested in what the artist or band represent and what their music means to them, rather than been informed more about the technical aspects of their music or a biography. In relation to the idea of reviews we could try and find one from a respected and well known artist to put in the magazine article. This would initially interest the audience even if they had never heard of Olivver the Kid because if the person who’s recommending them was a well known musician, it makes the audience trust their opinion and would make them want to listen to the music they have reccomended.

What would you prefer to see in a music video ?

The highest scoring format for a music video with the majority of 60% respondents was to have ‘ A short story that intertwines with shots of different locations or the band playing’. The second most popular format , as shown clearly on the bar chart was to have , ‘A short story line of an individual that relates to the song lyrics’. These both use the concept of narrative, where’s the other two options are more conventional formats that are common in the pop and rock industry. Therefore we can conclude that the majority of our audience prefer the alternative/ indie style of music video that tend to use narrative. This question's response has solidified our initial ideas of using a storyline in our music videos and we can experiment with different locations, sets and designs of how to relate a story to our chosen song.

What locations would you find more interesting to see in a music video?

This survey question hasn’t got as big of a significance between the number of responses per option. The amount of respondents who said they would find an urban environment or a woodland interesting in a music video where both the same. However there was an extra 10% more that said they would find an old deserted building more interesting. Although that it the most popular there still isn’t much difference between the three therefore if we choose the format of using a selection of different locations, we could experiment with all three and either include them all or choose which ones work best with the lyrics and aesthetic aspects of the film.

What album cover design would you prefer the look of ?

This survey question does have a significant differentiation between the responses. 55% of the people who took this survey said that on an album cover they would prefer ‘neutral colours, nice imagery and more subtle text’. One one of the open questions we also had on the survey the results varied more and it didn’t seem as if there was a significant different between the idea of a bright or neutral colour scheme for the album cover. Although this graph gives us a clearer insight the two questions varied because the open question was regarding what would stand out, whereas this one was what they prefer it to look like. Therefore this still gives us the freedom to experiment with what suits the song and overall style of the artist.

What would you prefer a music videos album cover and magazine advert to be like?

From the graph, we can conclude that the idea of using a still image, from the music video, as the main feature or background for both the magazine advert and album cover was most popular. 65% of responses voted that they would prefer this format to link the two together. Therefore we will take this forward and use this feedback in our design for the magazine advert and album cover. This idea also provides synergy amongst everything surrounding the new release and is something that is commonly used in the media industry.

What percentage do you think a music video contributes to the success of a band or artist?

The average percentage for how much the respondents thought a music video contributes to the success of an artist was 56%. This doesn't give us concrete evidence that the success of the artist relies entirely on the music video. However is does show that the music video does still have a big part in how successful the artist is. The other main factors that contribute to their success is the actual song and the artist's reputation in the industry. Therefore we can use the information from this graph to conclude that we need the music video to be reflective of what the band ‘Olivver the kid’ stand for & their lyrics. ‘The woods’ during the chorus is quite catchy and has a strong beat, we could use techniques like cutting rate to emphasise this. This can actually make people want to rewatch the video and lead to a more successful video.

What would you like to see on a band / artists DVD?

The most popular choice of what the respondents said they would prefer to see on a band/artists DVD would be from behind the scenes clips of the making of the music video.Although we’re not actually making the DVD’s content, we do have to state on the digital package what the DVD would contain. We will therefore use this feedback in the design of our digital package for ‘the woods’ new release.