Website Target Audience Research

To gain a better understanding of our target audience, we decided to film research for websites in which we included five people who were fans of the EDM genre.



Edited by Kanaiya

In this, we were able to learn many things; for example, the colours that stood out to them and what to include in our own websites.

In order to gain a more in depth understanding, Zeel created forms which our target audience could fill out in order to gain more qualitative and detailed research.

Here are the overall findings:

Target Audience Research: Website

I gathered primary research from our target audience in which I decided to make a questionnaire, and therefore the information I have gathered will help me make sure the features I decide to incorporate will look appealing and grab their attention.

EDM Typography Analysis & Target Audience

I analysed the typography for websites and albums from EDM artists this would be benefical for me as I would be aware of the codes and conventions of typography to ensure my ancillary products look appealing and grab the audiences attention.

DJ SNAKE: Website


AFROJACK: Website

ZEDD: Album

SKRILLEX: Album

Once analysing the typography for websites and albums I decided to gather primary research from our target audience which font and colour they preferred the most, and therefore will help me make a decision.

Target Audience Research: Digipak

I gathered primary research from our target audience in which I decided to make a questionnaire, and therefore the information I have gathered will help me make sure the features I decide to incorporate will look appealing and grab their attention.

Common Conventions of an album

Below I have analysed 8 common conventions of EDM albums to give me a better understanding of what is expected in an EDM album to ensure its successful and grabs the audiences attention. 

Analysis of albums

Below I have analysed four different albums from different EDM artists this helped me get a better understanding of how an album is laid out and the common conventions of it. I also anaylysed the typography.I analysed: The Chainsmokers, Avicii, Calvin Harris and Zedd.

Why are digipaks important?

Here, I looked into some of the many reasons why digipaks are important to their audiences.

Analysis of Digipaks

To look into the key conventions of a digipak, I firstly decided to conduct research into a digipak that did not relate to my genre (in order to only see key conventions rather than those that could be applied to EDM.

After that, I looked for digipaks which related to the EDM genres. I found "4x4=24" by Deadmau5, which did not seem to follow the conventions of EDM. This was interesting due to the simplicity which was unexpected to be found in the EDM genre in general.


This may have been done in order to relate to the idea of rebellion and going against the norms in the EDM genre.

What I found extremely prominent was how band/artist identity was incredibly important in both digipaks and some of the others that I had seen.

However, this digipak in particular was one which stood out...

This is because of the stylistics which referred to the electric element of EDM. Even though common conventions were present, such as the name of the duo in specific typography, and the use of bar codes, I felt that the design of electronics was extremely prominent and quite well designed. The common colours seen were yellow, white and blue, and the continuity throughout each flap made it look visually appealing, particularly because of the recurring theme of technology.

This research will be useful because it has allowed me to understand how I will incorporate aesthetics with our genre to create a visually appealing digipak, if this is chosen.

Ancillary Research

As a group, we went over the importance of websites, posters, and digipaks. This research will be useful in the development of our ancillary products.

Prop Research

When thinking of EDM, some images which came to mind were of clubbing, partying, and lights. These ideas enabled me to create a brain storm about specific props to consider using when creating an EDM music video.

Other props which can be considered:
- Alcohol
- Smoke machine for smoke
- Amplifiers
- Microphone
- Guitars, drums (if video is performance based)
- Drugs of some sort

The props that we will be using in our own music video are as follows:
- Drugs (Pills): As our story is about an individual who is going through abuse, it will ultimately lead to drug abuse. This will lead to strange impacts which will be explored through the use of the scribble effect.
- Powder Colour: As our narrative consists of a cinematic shot involving the use of powder colour, we will be using blue and yellow powder to create a cinematic effect.
- Skull Snood: To ensure that the transfer to the dark side is clear, we have decided to use a skull snood to show the darkness within. Fortunately, our actor already owns one so this will be very easily accessible.

- Leaving Note: To establish that our character is running away from home, we have decided to use a note which justifies his reason for leaving. This note had to be handwritten and come across as quite angry and aggressive. After looking into different fonts and styles, I decided to use the font MyChemicalRomance and I created and illustrated the note shown below. I have ensured the copy is quite thick and comes across as something written out of anger. However, it will also create enigma and mystery.

Target Audience Websites

Here is some information on why using websites and social media within the websites will be the most effective when advertising our artist.

Analysis Of Websites

Click the link below to be directed to my website analysis:

 http://www.touchcast.com/zsss/dasiiiit

Conclusion Of Website Analysis:

common conventions of by Zeel Sanatkumar

EDM Target Audience Walkthrough

When making my own music video it will be essential that I have taken all the information from the target audience and keep referring back to them when making any changes in order to gain the best possible result for our music video as possible. As the target audience will be between 16-24 it will be essential that I can meet their needs whilst using the some of the codes and conventions of the EDM genre. By choosing to subvert some genres for effect such as gender, it will be clarified and justified if need be.

EDM Typography Analysis: Websites & Digipacks/Albums

The following is a heavy analysis of the EDM typography that is presented in websites and digipacks. This will  be essential as i will be creating my own font and will therefore, need to know the codes and conventions of EDM typography for both my digipack and for my website. After creating several variations of my font, i will be asking my target audience which one they prefer, furthermore enabling me to use the chosen when creating my ancillary tasks.


The Chainsmokers:
    

Skrillex: Calvin Harris:   Overview: Common Conventions of the EDM typography in both Websites and Digipacks!
1) Font: Either extremely simplistic(Helvetica) or abstract (Trashhand)
2) Colour-scheme: Contrasting colours such as: Black, White, Red, Blue, Green.
3) Size: The artists name must be the biggest and most appealing thing on the page, no matter what.
4) Tracking: Must be easy to read and aesthetically pleasing so very spaced out.
5) Kerning: Overall, very close to one another in a uniform manner or completely abstract.
6) Aperture: Can be changed for various texts to create a more unpredictable and party like feel.

Narrative Timeline

As a group, we discussed thoroughly into the possible timeline of our music video. We decided to develop a story in reverse but in forward motion to confuse the audience, which is a convention of the EDM genre. At the end of our music video, we will have a continuation of what was shown in the beginning after there is a reverse montage of the story.
 

Mood Board - Titanium

Song Breakdown

I annotated our chosen song David Guetta- Titanium ft Sia, and made notes on ideas that come to mind when reading the lyrics.

Copyright Clearance

As we will be using the song Titanium by David Guetta ft. Sia, I decided to get into contact with EMI records to ask for permission to use their track. Here is a screenshot of the email that I had sent them:

Shortlist of Songs and Pitch

Individually, we had to pick two songs to pitch to the rest of the class. The songs I chose were Bastille: Pompeii, and David Guetta ft. Sia:  which is the song that was ultimately selected.


After our pitches, we discussed our respective six songs and looked at the strengths and limitations. From discussion, we concluded with the use of Titanium by David Guetta due to the powerful, yet vague lyrics and the fast paced vibe was also an appeal to us.

Star Persona: DJJ

Below is the logo I created for our star persona, DJJ.

I created a logo for our artist DJJ, so the audience are able to recoginse him the logo will also create more awareness. It will be used for my ancillary products (digipak and website). Many successful artists have a logo to allow consumers to recoginse them, and this would also increase in income as more consumers would purchase their merchandise because they would recieve a good impression.

Make Up Research

I created a brainstorm of different mise en scene elements, and also included EDM conventions which helped me get a better understanding of what mise en scene elements we might incorporate in our music video.

Purpose of Artist Websites

Intertextuality-.

Here I have looked into Intertextuality and why it would not be suitable for our music video especially within the EDM genre as it is not a typical conventions.
 

Secondary Research - Target Audience

I gathered secondary research for our chosen genre, Electronic Dance Music to get a better understanding of our target audience, such as; characteristic and psychographics. 
 

Step by Step Charts
Infogram

Mood Board - Initial Ideas

I created a mood board which includes my initial ideas.

Poster Research

I analysed three posters from our genre EDM which helped me understand what information to incorporate in poster, but also the layout.

Avicii's Poster:


Calvin Harris's Poster:



The Chainsmokers Poster:

Importance and function of posters

Costume Research

Here is my analysis of typical EDM artists and their style. As our actor is male, I have only looked into male EDM artist. Furthermore, the general conventions of the EDM style include very laid back and casual. Whether we chose to accept and recreate this convention or reject and subvert this convention is now up for discussion within the group.


Avicii:



Zedd:
 

Diplo:   

Star Persona- DJJ

Here is a logo I have created for my star persona and his branding will include the following logo.
Name: DJJ
Single: Titanium
Featuring: Nuno

This logo will be part of my star personas branding and is therefore absolutely essential that it is out there so the public can recognise him mainly through his logo.
His logo shall be used during the ancillary tasks as well as making merchandise for him.
This is significant as many famous DJ's such as Deadmau5 and Skrillex all have specific logos that are used as identifiers, this in turn created more awareness for the artist and attracts wider audiences, as well as allowing a greater source of income through branded merchandise, posters used in cross media convergence as well as synergistic products.

Additional: Creative Influences

Here are some of the artists I am influenced by and which to add aspects from each of the videos.


Creative Influences from Zeel Sanatkumar on Vimeo.

Titanium Song Breakdown

Here I have plotted all of my ideas that could potentially be used:

Shot By Shot Remake Analysis

Here is my evaluation for the shot by shot remake including what we have done well and what we could potentially reflect upon when planning, filming and editing our actual music video.

Song Shortlist & Pitch

I have presented my pitch to the rest of the group in regards to what song I am going to do for our actual coursework. Unfortunately, we have chosen another song: Titanium by David Guetta Featuring Sia, pitched by Kanaiya. I look forward to doing this song as it falls under the EDM genre which is fun yet lyrically includes a rather "deep" meaningful aspect which I would enjoy. It also meets my needs to practice special effects I would like to use as this is a reoccurring convention within the EDM genre.

Created using Visme. Free Online Presentation Software.

Song Shortlist and Pitch

I pitched two songs in front of the class which were Bad Days and Stay With Me. However, as a group, we decided to choose Kanaiyas song Titanium by David Guetta Featuring Sia. This song is part of the EDM genre which includes many conventions which we can incorporate in our music video.
 

Lyrical Breakdown

Here, I annotated the lyrics of our chosen song from start to finish, writing out ideas in terms of narrative, cinematography, mise-en-scene, camerawork and editing. This task allowed me to understand how a range of editing techniques in particular could be used, a well as ideas of the narrative of our music video.

This is only an idea of the narrative that could be considered. I will be pitching to the rest of the group and we will ultimately come up with a conclusion of our narrative. 

Practicing Double Exposure

Looking at video tutorials on YouTube allowed me to attempt the editing effect "double exposure". I used some of my own footage as well as using some from the internet which used higher quality camera.

Using the double exposure would be a great method to utilize as a replacement of a flashback. However, high camera quality will be required as well as an obvious black to white ratio in a still or moving image.

Tutorials used:



This was used to understand how to have a moving image in a text. Here I used the track matte key, as well as the colour matte.


This was used when learning how to actually have a double exposure.I used a threshold, track matte key, and a colour matte in order to achieve it.

When actually filming, I aim to be able to utilize double exposure in some way, perhaps when there is a shot of the main character looking back at specific memories.

Summary of Analysis

Here is a summary of all the analysis we conducted as a group. We were able to learn a lot about how codes and conventions could be utilised in our own music video.




Edited by Kanaiya

EDM Target Audience Interviews

As a group we have conducted this research in order to get a better understanding of our target audience and the types of things they would like to see before we actually plan or produce our product. Before we interviewed the following people, we showed them our chosen song: David Guetta- Tinanium ft Sia.
 Edited by: Zeel Sanatkumar

Codes and Conventions for EDM

I researched the codes and conventions for our genre EDM it gave me a better insight of what we should incorporate in our music video to ensure we grab the audiences attention and its appealing for them to watch.

Created using Visme. An easy-to-use Infographic Maker.

Director Research - Tim Erem

I researched into Tim Erem which helped me to understand how he grabs his target audience and the reasons why he's so successful in the music videos he has directed. As a camera operator I analysed the different camera shots he used, to ensure I incorporate shots that will appeal to our target audience. Furthermore, by researching Tim Erem I understood his techniques and style.

Digipack and Album Poster Remake - Rihanna "Loud" & Jessie J "Who You Are"

Here are some remakes I have done for digipacks and album posters.




ORIGINAL:

REMAKE:

ORIGINAL:

















REMAKE:

ORIGINAL:


















REMAKE:




















Overall, this task was useful in helping me improve my photoshop skills. In order for me to excel at the ancillary tasks I will need a good understanding of the format, typography and layout. This has increased my knowledge of basic graphic design.

Jealous- Labyrinth Remake

This is a preliminary task where we made a remake of Jealous by Labyrinth.

Target Audience Research

To have a clearer understanding of the psychographics of our target audience, I did some further research into specific statistics and analytical figures.

This article allowed me to look into specific details of the EDM fanbase in 2014.

Director Research - Director X

Researching into particular directors allowed me to understand that different directors have different styles. I chose Director X particularly because of his reputation and fame in this category and I learned about the types of music videos he developed, who he worked with, and his personal interest.

This task will help me in particular because I am the director of Shadow Inc in the duration of the coursework.



This interview from the Guardian has also allowed me to gain a deeper insight on a career as a music video director.

Director Research- Austin Peters

Austin Peters by Zeel Sanatkumar

Pre-target Audience Research

Before my group and I conducted actual research with real life individuals who take an interest in the electronic dance music genre, I used YouGov to research about the majority of individuals who are  consumers of EDM.

Furthermore, I have also done research about the amount of time spent on social media by EDM fans this is significant as it will show us if theyre very active participants in setting, making and following trends.

Research Summary

As a group, we summarised all the research that had been undertaken before we move on to the all important stage of planning.

Star Persona - Avicii & Diplo

I created an animation for Avicii and Diplo to help me understand the different aspects that make him more dominant in the music industry. It also helped me to understand his characteristics and therefore will help us to decide an actor that is suitable for the role.

Reference:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avicii
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplo

Artists Case Studies

I analysed three different artists and it helped me develop a better understanding of what they do and gave me a better insight of the music industry. The three artists I decided to analyse were; Sam Smith, Little Mix and Kodaline.

EDM Avicii Case Study

I analysed Avicii and it gave me a better insight of his personality and characteristics that make him more dominate than others, and what he does to ensure his music videos are successful.

Camera Operator

After much discussion to see which role would meet everybody's needs, we decided I would be Camera Operator, and therefore decided to do further research of what is expected of me.

Reference:
- https://stephmeadmedia.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/role-responsibility-cameraman/

Job Role Brochure: Editor

Here is some research I have conducted into my allocated job role as editor. Within the EDM genre they are heavily reliant on editing and therefore, this research is a significant factor in order to see the types of editors within the media industry and what makes them stand out, delving into their qualitties and skill sets.

Lip Syncing Practice

In order to truly see how difficult lip syncing is we had practised lip syncing to a song. Furthermore, we had to consider many other things when lip syncing such as timing, pronunciation of words as well as visual aesthetics.This would also be useful in any performance videos where our actors may have lip syncing to do, as we may have tips and tricks to offer them.

 Here is my final product.

Practising Scribble Effect

The Scribble effect was something I was inspired to practice through watching the following music videos.

 As well as:    Seeing theses types of videos using the same effect has increased my curiosity to learn this effect and therefore, I have turned to using this youtube video to expand my skill set.


 

 This has led me to using this tutorial to create my very own video using the "scribble effect".

Star Persona- Taylor Swift

I have created a magazine cover in order to study Taylor Swift and the star persona she has at the moment. This will further help me when deciding what characteristics my artist should hold in order to have a star persona that is universally recognised. Taylor Swift did not have a specific logo for her star persona, which is why for my artist I would like to create a star Logo which is a significant factor in making them easily recognisable and popular.

EDM Case Study: David Guetta

When researching a range of EDM artists, I decided to analyse David Guetta in particular. This is because it will correspond to our own music video selection, which was configured by him. In this research, it was interesting to consider the different aspects of Guetta's life, and what ultimately led to his success.

DAVID GUETTA by Kanaiya Lakhani

EDM Music Video Analysis

I analysed Wake me up by Avicii which was from our genre EDM it helped me understand the different elements we should incorporate in our music video in order to grab the audience's attention.

EDM Case Study: Calvin Harris

Analysing Calvin Harris as one of the most popular EDM artists in the music record world has helped me to establish what sort of characteristics he holds as well as having a further look into the types of music he produces and what lead him to be so successful in the electronic dance music genre.

Calvin Harris- EDM Artist Analysis by Zeel Sanatkumar

EDM Mood Board - Additional Research

I created a mood board to help me understand what type of elements successful artists incorporate in their music videos, and it also helped me to understand what the audience expect to see in this genre.

Star Persona - Calvin Harris

I have created a poster in order to explore Calvin Harris as a star persona. This poster allowed me to understand the different reasons why Calvin Harris stands out, as I explored areas such as his significant use of social media, and his merchandise store - which uses cross media convergence and synergy for marketing. This research has allowed me to understand the aspects to think of when casting for an actor to fit in the EDM genre.

Mainstream vs Independent audience

I researched mainstream vs independent audiences and it helped me to understand the key difference between these two and the different audiences they both have depending on the artist.

Student Work Analysis

I analysed work from previous A2 students and it gave me a better overview of what is expected of me. It also helped me to evaluate what mistakes students have been making frequently, and therefore I would be aware of these mistakes and ensure I avoid them.

Music video analysis (general)

I analysed when you love someone by James TW which is part of the Indie genre and it helped me to understand the difference between EDM and Indie and how they attract their audience.

EDM Music Video Analysis

Here, I analysed two different music videos which fit in to the EDM genre. The videos I used were "Don't Let Me Down" by The Chainsmokers, which was a narrative/performance video, and "One (Your Name)" by Swedish House Mafia, which was a video which merged all three types.



What did I find?

 Within both of the videos, I found that there were a range of similarities and differences.

Some similarities I found were:
- The idea of continuation at the end, and the use of quick cuts
- The recurring motion of dance in a solo
- The sense of confusion and eeriness

Some differences I considered were:
- The juxtaposition in the use of lighting (one video was much darker than the other)
- The overall atmosphere (shown by the use of location in one video in comparison to a set in the other)
- The pace of editing (even though both videos created some sort of tension)

Looking at two different videos will allow me to consider what ideas to develop in our own music video.

Music video analysis (general)

I analysed Take me to church by Hozier which is part of the Indie genre and it helped me to understand the difference between EDM and Indie and how they attract their audience.

Student Work Analysis

Analysing the work of other students has foregrounded the impact that different factors have in the development of my own music video. For example, I have been able to learn how easily the flow can be disrupted by a mistake such as incorrect lip syncing. I will definitely utilise the ideas developed from this task when it comes to the creation of my own music video.

Laura Mulvey Theory

I researched Laura Mulveys Theory and it helped me to understand the concept of male gaze and how artists incorporate it in their music video.

Carol Vernallis Theory

By researching Carol Vernallis Theory it helped me to understand the four important elements that relate to how a music video is produced, and what to incorporate in our music video, such as common edits that are used in music videos.

Reference: - https://www.slideshare.net/paypal12345678/carol-vernallis-music-video-theory

Andrew Goodwins Theory

I researched Andrew Goodwin's theory and it helped me to understand what to include in our music video to ensure we grab the audiences attention, and the theory also helped me to understand the five key concepts to a music video to ensure its successful and stands out from the other music videos.
 

Reference: - https://www.slideshare.net/FortuneRioba/andrew-goodwin-music-video

Mainstream vs. Independent Audience

In this task, I was able to look into the different types of music video artists and their audiences. This allowed me to understand how types of audience vary within different artists.

Mainstream vs. Independent Audience by Kanaiya Lakhani This article also allowed me to understand the differences between an underground and mainstream target audiences.

Additional Research: History Of Music Videos

Making a timeline of the music video emergence in contemporary society, in order to have a better understanding of the prominent changes and themes that may reoccur within the music world.

Purpose of a music video

I explored the key elements to the purpose of a music video to ensure I was aware of why artists create a music video, and the impact it can have on external as well as internal people. This will help me to understand what I need to include in our music video to meet their needs.

Reference:
- https://www.slideshare.net/09Utasci/purpose-of-music-videos-53322122

Music Video Analysis(EDM) Lean On (feat. MØ) Major Lazer & DJ Snake

Here is the music video that I have analysed:

 Analysis:

Music Video Analysis(General) Taylor Swift- Blank Space

Identifying how music videos become successful and what they include in them show me an overview of what types of music videos dominate the music industry in contemporary society and the reasons behind this.

 

Mainstream Vs Independant

Researching about Mainstream Vs Independence Record labels has made me question how effective each one of the labels are as well as analysing both their strengths and weaknesses. This will be useful when I have created my own record label company and encourage me to think about which one would be more effective for my genre and artist.

Here is the link:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1v4loBSkhONzQ3bFXBRsrob3Wr7-grhnPE2Fade1U5IM/edit?usp=sharing

EDM Music Video Analysis- How Deep Is Your Love

I have analysed How deep is your love as this was a very well known electric dance music track. Furthermore, as it is heavily reliant on some of the editing techniques I would like to use for our music video analysing it helped me to understand why certain aspects of the music video are the way the are and the effects this has on how the audience revive and understand complex ideologies that may be shown as "simplistic".
 

Student Work Analysis

Analysing student work for A2 highlighting their advantages and disadvantages has ensured that I know what type of mistakes are recurring thus showing me what I should aim to avoid during my A2 Course. Furthermore, giving myself a general overview of advice to follow after analysing the examiners report.

Laura Mulvey- Male Gaze

I have researched into the prominent findings of Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze and her is the summary of my findings:

 

Vladmir Propp's Mythology and Folk Tales

Vladmir Propp's folk theory expresses that there are eight different types of characters which ultimately contribute to a narrative. This research will be helpful when looking at ways to develop a narrative for our music videos as well as incorporate the different types of characters when planning.

Roland Barthe's Enigmatic Code

Learning about Roland Barthe's theory of enigmatic code allowed me to understand how different codes work together for the development of a media product. This theorist in particular expressed how the cause of enigma is because of the interweaving of different types of codes.

 

Carol Vernaillis- Music Video Theory

Carol Vernaillis Music Video Theory helped me to understand all the basic micro elements of music videos and the purpose of certain elements. In addition this has helped me to highligh and reflect upon my music video thus helping me regenerate different types of shots i would like to used as well as the types of editing or special effects I would like to consider using in my own Music Video.


 

Compilation of Music Videos

I created a compilation of music videos that grabbed my attention.

 

Below I have outlined what I liked about the music video:

Song 1: Shawn Mendes - There's nothing holding me back
What I liked about the music video:
- I liked how the main actor is featuring in the music video, so the audience are able to understand his personality.
- The performance is clear to understand and whats going on in the music video.
- Short cuts are being used when the beat of the music increases.

Song 2: X Ambassadors - Ahead of myself
What I liked about the music video:
- I liked how there is a balance between performance and narrative in the music video.
- You can see the actors facial expressions to allow the audience to engage with the music video.

Song 3: ZAYN, Sia - Dusk till dawn ft. Sia
What I liked about the music video:
- I liked how the lighting changes from low key lighting to high key lighting.
- There's a story in the middle of the music video which makes it more interesting to watch and allows the audience to engage with the music video.
-  I also liked the faced paced editing being used.

Song 4: Dua Lipa - New Rules
What I liked about the music video:
- There is a balance between performance and narrative which makes it more interesting to watch.
- The use of different locations being used makes it appealing to watch and the different camera angles being used.

Song 5: Martin Garrix & Dua Lipa - Scared to be lonely
What I liked about the music video:
-  Different shots and locations were being used in the music video which made it more interesting to watch.
- Faced paced editing is being used to watch the best of the music.

Radiohead: Stand Out Music Video

Analysing music videos which stood out allowed me to understand what to consider when creating my own music video.

Adele: Stand Out Music Video

Analysing music videos which stood out allowed me to understand what to consider when creating my own music video.

Electronic Dance Music Mood Board

This mood board is a simple summary of some of the associations that come to mind when thinking about our genre of Electronic Dance Music.