This is the first rough cut for our music video. We have used two setups as part of this video however we haven't included the narrative as we hadn't planned the storyboard at the time of filming.
As a result the video only includes the performance from the band and some establishing shots of Leeds that we shot on the night of the Christmas lights switch on. The video shows a lot of promise as we have given ourselves a strong visual representation of what our final video will look like. The band portion of the video had lots good shots as we used a master shot and then several individual shots of each band member. These shots and angles were really effective and showed off the band perfectly. On the other hand, a problem with this setup was the lighting and the location; The band were unable to book their usual rehearsal space therefore we had to use a backup venue. This venue ended up being too dark for the cameras we were using therefore the picture quality is grainy and very dark. This means that we will have to reshoot this aspect of the video with better lighting equipment and also preferably in the usual rehearsal space.
The establishing shots also have a lot of promise as they showcase lots of classic images of Leeds such as "The Light". However, in order to film all these shots we had to rush quite a lot therefore the shots themselves are clearly hand held and shake a lot which isn't good for the look of the video. This means that a lot of the shots we have used in this rough cut won't be used in our final video. However, this filming has allowed us to gain experience so we can improve our technique when we reshoot the video next time. We also have to remember that the narrative will take up the majority of the video and we didn't include it at all in this cut of the video. Meaning that a lot of the images we've used in this cut will be cut anyway.
Another thing we leaned from this rough cut is how we will use colour in our video. We want to integrate colour slowly as the narrative becomes more uplifting. Therefore we wanted to test this integration as part of our rough cut. The results from this were really positive. The colour changes were really subtle and looked exactly as we imagined therefore giving us more confidence that we can bring our ideas to life.
This first rough cut has shown us a lot in terms of what is good for our video and also for what we can do in order to change and improve it. Our next step is to complete the pre-production process so we can begin to film the final video over the christmas and new year period.
To publicise and promote our production company which is called @magpiemediaofficial we have created an Instagram account. We will use this to track our progression and show our target audience behind the scenes sneak peeks of our filming process. For our first day of filming we met the band at their rehearsal studio to record the performance aspect of our video. Our first post on our Instagram shows the band rehearsing as well as us setting up the cameras. We are using hashtags in our posts as this will spread awareness for our account as well as our project.
For our video we are planning on using several different locations. To begin with we plan on re-shooting the performance section of the video at Pirate Studios in Kirkstall. This is a better studio as it is a bigger space so we will have more room for different shot types and angles. As well as this, the studio is more lit than the previous location therefore the quality of the footage will be better.
For the narrative section of the video we will have to use several locations as we will follow the protagonist through his story. His progression will therefore taking him to new places meaning that we have to find more suitablelocations. To begin with we will meet the protagonist in the German Christmas Market in the centre of Leeds. Melissa was in Leeds this week and went to familiarise herself with the market and take pictures so we could plan where we want ourprotagonist to be positioned. The market has several stalls and is covered in fairy lights which gives it the festive, happy mood we desired in order to contrast with the cold exclusion of homelessness.
There are also gaps between the stalls which we were very excited about as we wanted to 'find' our protagonist hidden away in the market and this is the perfect place to position them, allowing them to be within and yet without.
We also discovered that there are attractions which would make for great establishing shots in our video such as a carousel, inflatable snow globe and ferris wheel. We even thought we might be able to go in the wheel, price dependant, to get some establishing shots of Leeds from a higher vantage point.
Overall we are very happy with this location and will definitely be making use of it in our video.Then we will follow him to Leeds Train Station where in the first narrative he tries to escape the abuse he receives in the city.
In the second narrative this is where we see the protagonisttaken by his friend who is trying to help him start a new life. After this we will use the bridge at Shipley Train Station. This is where the first story ends as we see the protagonist collapse on the bridge. But in the second narrative we will need a house and a front room in which the protagonist can set up their new life. After this we will go back to Leeds city Centre but this time the protagonist will be dressed in a suit to show how far he has come since he was homeless. For this location we were thinking of using Victoria Gate shopping centre as it looks very grand and spectacular, contrasting the more grungy street locations of the video.
On Thursday 9th November we collected our first bits of footage for our music video. This is very early in the process which allows us plenty of time to reshoot if we think it needs to be of a higher standard.
This also came before we started storyboarding but this wasn't a problem as we were filming the section of our music video which features the band so we didn't need to decide on the sequence of shots we needed as we weren't telling a story like we will be during the narrative section of the video. We did, however, need to think about the types of shots and camera angles we wanted. We took inspiration from other music videos in the same genre, specifically the Maroon 5 video for 'Harder to Breathe', to decide on how we wanted to position our camera. We settled on taking 3 cameras to minimise the number of times we had to run through the track. In the first run through we needed one was set up as a master shot to capture all the band members together and two off to the side, one focussing solely on the lead singer and the other on whoever was on the other side, perhaps a guitarist. Then in the second run through we would get more close up shotson the other members of the band.
Initially we were supposed to be filming in a location called Pirate Studios. We were very happy about this as it looked like a great location with lots of lights which we could use to create the mood we needed and get good quality footage. However, at the last minute the band changed locations to a different studio in Leeds called Jar Mills Studios. When we looked at this online we could tell it wasn't as ideal as the other, the rooms looked darker and less set up for filming than the other (which was specifically used for doing live streams or filming videos). Their time in the studio had also changed - it was now 7-10pm. Although this was less convenient, we decided to make the most of it by going to the Leeds Christmas Lights switch-on, which was on the same night, to get some cutaways and establishing shots for the music video.
Unfortunately Rob was unable to go but he helped us prepare and decide on our plan so me and Ed could execute it with as much ease as possible. We arrived at the studios with 3 cameras and 3 tripods and met with the band who were really lovely and eager to help in any way they could. However, we hadn't anticipated just how loud it would be in the soundproof room where they were playing as if on the main stage at a gig; luckily they were selling earplugs in the studios which we quickly purchased. Unfortunately this posed another issue - we were trying to set up three cameras with just two of us, making sure that each one was exactly the same so we could seamlessly cut between each shot, without being able to verbally communicate. This was a real challenge. In the end we had to use our phones to write down what we were saying and show it to each other just to get it all set up.
The next problem we had was lighting. It was pretty dark in the room with no proper lights we could use to improve the situation. The walls were also a deep red with the wall directly behind the band painted a matt black. This just absorbed all the light. We did the best we could by turning the ISO up to 400 however, we didn't want to take it any higher as it would make the picture grainy. Therefore the image was darker than would've been ideal.
The room was also very small which posed a challenge in getting all the band members into one shot and getting all the cameras set up as the floor was completely covered in wires. However, we managed it so the first run through we had amaster shot, a side shot and a shot of the singer. We had decided that we wanted the shot of the singer to be at a low angle and from the side, just like the angle on Adam Levine in the 'Harder to Breathe' video as we really liked this effect and saw that it was typical in the 'indie rock' genre. The camera on the singer and the master shotstayed static throughout the whole first run through however, me and Ed both stood at the side shot and moved the camera around depending on who was doing the most in the song at each given time and got a variety of shots includingtwo shot of the lead and backing singer during their harmonies together.
On the second run through we got a close upof each of the other band members - bass guitar, lead guitar and drummer. To get a good angle of the drummer we had to ask the lead singer to stand out of the set-up as he was stood in front of the drummer and the shot looked so much better from the front than from the side. This was okay though because we didn't need another master shotof the whole set-up so it didn't matter that there were cameras in the middle of it all this time.
We also made sure to get some pictures for our social media campaign.
The above video is our first rough cut, incorporating footage from the shoot at Jar Mills and the Christmas lights switch-on in Leeds city centre, which fortunately was taking place on the same evening. We managed to schedule the shoot so we could get a variety of angles of the band as well as the fireworks display and switch-on outside Town Hall. We edited the video and tried to incorporate some of the concepts we had been discussing prior to shooting. The video contains the following elements:
Rhythmic editing
Cuts between the band in performance and a location shoot around Leeds (At this stage we haven't begun to film the narrative portion of the video so shots of Leeds are substituting for this at this point)
Shifts from black and white to colour
A down-to-earth aesthetic in terms of the text and inclusion of real recorded sound from the shooting day
Establishing shots of Leeds
Close ups of the band members
After editing we have come to the conclusion that we should arrange another filming session with the band as the footage is ultimately more grainy and dark than we would have hoped to achieve. In order to get the video as professional looking as we can we need to either bring lighting equipment or shoot in a different location, as Jar Mills was unfortunately black and red with dim lighting that didn't translate well to camera (such as the original preferred venue Pirate Studios, which has its own lighting installed, including lighting with coloured gels that could give our video more vibrancy).
We also now need to plan a shoot at the Leeds German Christmas Market as this closes on December 24th and is a crucial desired location for the narrative portion of our video.
After consolidating our plans for what should be included in the video, narrative-wise, we put together a storyboard, drawn on paper. As this is a music video, and as such the content within should be directly synchronised with the song playing, we listened to the song repeatedly whilst doing so, and noting down how many bars of music each shot should play for, in order to understand the rhythm and pace of our video as well as how to organise it so that significant shots happen at the same time as significant moments in the music.
For example, we wanted the shot of James on Shipley station bridge to be at the end of the second verse so that when the instrumental section begins, the narrative is reset. Symbolically, the instrumental section is perfect for the second narrative as both introduce new ideas to what has come before, whether in music or in what is shown visually.
We scanned in the storyboard using a photocopier scanner and have placed them into an animatic video which you can view above, using FinalCutPro to place the images in order, with the song playing. This is a really helpful indicator of how the final video will look, and again how it will play out in relation to the song.
Our primary target audience are females aged 16-25 as, in our survey, the indie rock genre was more popular among our female participants than the men. Furthermore, narratives came out much more popular with women in our survey than men as over 20% more women picked it as an element of music videos they enjoy.
To appeal to them we are going to feature the band as females generally tend to enjoy seeing the members and getting to know them.
Our secondary target audience are males aged 16-25 as our male/female split in our audience was so close that we knew the genre appeals to both. Therefore we are creating a generally gender neutral music video that will appeal to both our primary and secondary target audienceby conveying a universal issue and rallying indiscriminate support.
However, when conducting our research we found that theindie rock genreactually had a relatively big audience of 40-54 year old men because it was a popular music genre in the 90s due to bands like Oasis, Blur and Pulp. Therefore, we can't discount this audience as they could be interested in the band. However, they would be a tertiary target audience because the band is young and therefore less likely to appeal to an older audience.
A self aware sense of humour I’ve seen before in Kasabian’s music videos is highly prevalent in this concept/narrative video. The video appears to parody a David Attenborough-type nature documentary, in this case about a mouse. Theres a black comedy twist to this trope however as while in the first half of the music video the nature documentary is authentic looking (complete with a voiceover) and has a forest setting the second half shows the mouse wandering into the aftermath of a crime deal that has gone wrong complete with bodies and violent imagery. The video revels in some bleak and grisly mise-en-scene that sharply contrasts the natural beauty and peacefulness that sums up the beginning of the video and can be expected of nature documentaries. The subverting of expectations creates a somewhat funny but also unnerving effect with the video and befits indie rock videos which have a penchant for creative/unique concepts and self-awareness.
Maroon 5 - Harder to Breathe
To begin with the whole video uses dark colours and a lot of shadows for the mise-en-scene. This is a genre convention for the indie rock genre as a lot of the songs use a dark narrative and the visuals link to the music. A theory stated originally by Andrew Goodwin. The pace of the editing is very fast pace as this links to the pace of the drum beat in the background of the song. Most indie rock songs contain a beat like this therefore a pace editing pace is a classic genre convention for indie rock. However, this video also breaks genre conventions. For example, most indie songs are written to portray a deep and meaningful story. But this video contains no narrative and concentrates on the star image of the band. Although star image is a motif of Maroon 5. During the performance in this video a master shot is used as well as secondary shots. the master shot is stationary and views the whole band. The seoncdary shots are hand held and form close up shots on the performers and their instruments. Electric guitars and drums are classic images of indie rock therefore it is a genre convention to show these instruments in the video.
Elbow - Grounds for Divorce
This is an interesting video which first appears to be a relatively simple performance style but is edited in a very subtle but clever way. Every time the music repeats they use the same sequence of shots to accentuate this recurring melody. This idea of repeating and rewinding certain shots runs through the whole video and is used particularly well in shots where its effects are exaggerated e.g. when they start the snooker game. This is actually a similar concept to our video. The general video sticks within the genre conventions as it is made up of a 'live performance' and, although it definitely focusses more on the lead singer, there are shots acknowledging each of the musicians and backing singers in turn. This is something which we can take note of when filming the performance aspects of our video, to get the balance of screen time for each of the band members right in accordance to genre conventions.
The general colouring of this video is muted with very few bright colours or 'stand out' props or costumes. This is not something we can take inspiration from because our band have said they like bright colours and often use them in their promotional techniques. Therefore this is something we need to include in our video despite it not fully conforming to genre conventions. They also have elements of choreography within it with the girl dancing in the bar. This adds a layer of interest to what would otherwise be a purely performance based video. We don't need something like this in our video as it will be interwoven with a narrative which is actually the main focus of the video, therefore giving it layers of meaning beyond what this particular Elbow video has. Interestingly, here, the concept lies in the editing rather than in the actual camera work or mise en scene. All it's individuality was added after the video was shot through the use of the repeated and recurring sections of footage that go in time with the music. It's a clever idea and one that makes the video memorable so it stands out amongst all the other indie rock performance based videos.
Dan Croll - From Nowhere
This video from artist Dan Croll is similarly tongue-in-cheek and comic, putting the song within the context of a staring match tournament, a setup which isn't made initially apparent which helps the audience be drawn in. The video uses lots of awkward content to be quirky and funny, and can be compared to the works of Wes Anderson in this way. From the use of symmetrical shots parallel to the subject, a pastel colour scheme and performances full of quirkiness and awkwardness, the video gets its distinct style. The video also includes slow-motion effects and zooms as well as lots of eye contact to camera to not only represent the staring match but also add to the video's humorous tone.
Everything Everything - Cough Cough vs. Dan Croll - Bad Boy
Both of these videos incorporate an aspect we find interesting: the shift from black and white to colour, as follows.
Cough Cough - The shift at 1:00 is sudden and takes the video from one polar opposite to the other. It's masked by white light that makes the shift not too jarring and out-of-place. It also helps to emphasise the shift in the song from verse to chorus.
Bad Boy - From 2:11 to 2:55, the music video slowly introduces more colour gradient each time it cuts. This culminates in a colourful sequence at the end. The change isn't that noticeable which adds impact to what is happening on-screen.
47 people of varying ages filled out a survey I created with the site SurveyMonkey and from this we have managed to consolidate the audience research which informs us that our target age groups are 16-20 year olds and 41-50 year olds and that the indie rock genre appeals evenly to males and females.
On the graph below are the two age groups' genres of music they enjoy regularly listening to. The orange bar fifth from the top represents indie rock and as evidenced they are both one of the more popular genres of music within these two age groups, indicating interest.
Also from this question 46.15% of males surveyed said they enjoyed listening to indie rock music regularly, with 52.94% of females surveyed saying the same thing. This pretty much matches the information from YouGov regarding bands from the same genre, which was split almost 50/50 in terms of which gender prefers the genre. As in YouGov, the balance as expected leans slightly towards females rather than males.
I included this grid asking people which music video they would be most drawn to watching. Of the pictures, B and E represent the ideas we were thinking of creating in our video with the other images representing other genres like pop, rap, electronica and metal. 17/39 of people in our identified target audience chose options B and E which is almost half, a good indicator of interest in the video amongst our target audience we will create when there's a total of 7 options.
The below information asked people which bands/artists with a similar style to Tranqua Lite they had heard of, in order to give us an understanding about how popular the genre is amongst younger and older people. Our younger target audience aged 15-20 generally knew more of the more recent artists such as Catfish and the Bottlemen and Everything Everything but the 40-50's had strong knowledge of the older bands, eg. Pulp which had a 100% recognition compared to around 35%. This leads me to believe our video's primary target audience should be the 16-20 year-olds as Tranqua Lite are a new band so won't necessarily be as appealing to the 40-50's who may prefer to listen to more established artists.
In order to find out which aspects of music videos would appeal to our target audiences I created a survey question. The results below demonstrate some interesting results. People over the age of 41 had a high amount of interest in choreography being included however due to the naturalistic theme of our video and indie rock genre this is something I feel would take from our video rather than add to it. Also, there was general interest amongst both groups in using a narrative as well as performance. While young people preferred concept videos, the older people preferred performance emphasis. To appeal to both demographics, we've decided to add a subtle conceptual element that will hopefully make the video appealing to both by keeping the core emphasis on the story and performance setups. Young people were also keen to see representation of social issues and symbolism, and being our primary target audience this tells us our video is relevant to indie rock fans.
Shortly after requesting the demo, the band sent us an early version of the song which we used the lyrics, mood and structure to put together a list of concepts that made up our pitch.
On Monday 30th October, Rob from our group went to visit Tranqua Lite's frontman, Toby Womack. He discussed the points made at the pitch and asked for feedback regarding the work we have already produced.
The notable points that emerged from this meeting include:
The band are keen to have a colourful video as this is part of their brand identity.
The band would be happy for us to use other actors within the narrative portion of the video.
The band have a rehearsal studio in Kirkstall they would be interested in being a shooting location.
They were keen to include an interview with a real homeless person.
They liked the Biffy Clyro video's concept with the same events happening twice so this is something we should work to incorporate.
The song isn't inspired by a particular story but the overall issue of homelessness in Leeds.
We are now in the process of arranging a session where we film them performing the song at Pirate Studios in Kirkstall as they have offered an invitation. We will go and try to film them in this setting on this upcoming Monday to see if this location is effective and better than the originally planned use of greenscreen and blank backgrounds. As the location looks aesthetically pleasing and allows the opportunity to adjust lighting creatively, it may have a very good result.
After preparing our moodboard and list of concepts we pitched our video idea to the class:
Overall I believe this was a successful pitch as we effectively covered all the areas we needed to consider before going ahead with production, from locations and actors to potential difficulties and challenges, as well as what action we needed to take with the band in order to progress further. We have now created a YouTube channel as well as an Instagram account for Magpie Media, our collective company name.
The text below is a set of the lyrics, provided to us by Tranqua Lite. This was helpful to us in terms of putting together ideas for the narrative (the comparisons of a bird/magpie to a homeless person is something we're looking to explore in the video and ancillary products). It also allows us to easily see patterns and key moments in the lyrics. In this song's case, the line "Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn" is repeated several times so this section of the song we may need to emphasise visually to reflect the line's significance. Our idea currently is to have the positive shift in tone within the narrative occur by this point to reflect the hopeful lyrics:
INTRO VERSE 1
Soaring through the sky you spot me vulnerable and broken.
A product of your mess, I'm just a twinkle in your eye.
I hear the tidings of magpies, the laws of which unspoken,
You pick, you choose, you claw until you're strong enough to fly.
VERSE 2
Why are the things you choose to steal so delicate and glistening?
Alluring though they seem they don't mean anything to me.
Your ear to the ground you act as though you're surely listening
The meaning of my life is not the product that you [seek]
INSTRUMENTAL VERSE 3
I've seen one thousand souls as the year colds, they're torn and rusting.
The year itself in riches but the torment won't subside.
One thousand more outside these bodies cold and worn, untrusting.
Don't pick at people's eyeballs you will make the people blind. (GUITAR SOLO)
One thousand souls are torn.
INSTRUMENTAL
CHORUS
Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn
Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn
You turn the tides, the tides are turned and now you are unworn
(Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn)
You turn the tides, the tides are turned and now you are unworn
(Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn)
INSTRUMENTAL, FEATURING GUITAR SOLO OUTRO
Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn
Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn
Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn
Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn
Foals are an indie rock band formed in Oxford in 2005. They are signed to Warner Bros. Records and released their debut album, 'Antidote', in 2008. They have since released three more albums and have won awards such as the 'Best Live Act' at the 2013 Q Awards.
Their average audience is 18-24 year old females of social grade C2DE in London. This is interesting because, when I looked deeper, the split between men and women in the general population was almost a dead 50/50 split with their women making up 50.7% of their fan base and men making the other 49.3. These are the same statistics I found for 'Pulp' and is too close to really suggest a specific gender preference so perhaps this genre is actually just quite gender neutral, suggesting our video should be too.
This is a really odd music video their's where they've used some kind of GoPro 360 degree camera to create a really interesting image that they've then superimposed the artistonto. This means they can control the environment by adding in scenery and animals as well as multiple versions of the same artist. I really like the effect this has, although I feel It's not varied enough. The problem with sole performance videos is that they get boring if it's not intercut with some other action, therefore I feel that we definitely need to add either some concept pieces or a narrative to add some interest to the video. I also like the black and white effect of this video however, I don't feel like that's suited to 'Howl's' image which appears to be more colourful and slightly influenced by the 70's as far as colouring and styles go. The music is similar to 'Foals' but their image is slightly different and I think this should be embraced and emphasised to set them apart rather than just trying to copy another band's style.
Biffy Clyro is a Scottish alternative rock band made up of 3 members called Simon Neil, James Johnston and Ben Johnston. They are currently signed with 14th Floor Records. The target audience for the band is 18-25 year olds but slightly more popular with females. However, they target their music at both males and females. The band is also popular with 40-50 year olds. This is because indie and alternative rock was popular back when this age group were teenagers therefore it's the music they grew up with and still follow to this day. This has been the same with all the indie bands we have researched so far therefore showing a clear trend in the target audience of the genre.
In their video for "Biblical" they employ characteristics which will attract all of their target audiences. First of all the establishing shot is full of dark and bleak colours such as blacks and browns. This is a classic genre convention of the indie rock genre therefore linking back to the older indie rock videos of the 1980's. This will attract the older generation as it will remind them of the songs they listened to when they were teenager therefore this link will make them interested in this song. The younger female audience members will be attracted by the star treatment in the video. Front man Simon Neil is attractive and he stars in the whole video therefore making the video attractive and interesting for this target audience. Finally the younger males will like this video as a lot of the mise-en-scene presents violence such as punching the glass window and the thugs beating up Neil with baseball bats.
These characteristics are repeated throughout the bands other music videos. For example, in "Black Chandelier" the background is often dark with black and white being a motif for the genre. The band members also appear topless therefore creating a voyeuristic feel for the video. The narrative of the video is also violent as it contains a police chase with helicopters.
After sending out an appeal for local bands/musicians through Snapchat, a friend contacted me recommending a local Leeds-based indie band called 'Tranqua Lite" so we emailed the group asking if they would be interested in collaborating. We researched them and discovered that the band have a relatively small following and are building up towards releasing their first recorded song, 'Tempered Tides', which is being released on October 20th making them highly likely to be interested in having a music video produced for them. They have played some high-profile events such as Leeds Pride 2017 and have recorded a song so appear to be serious about the band and its music.
We contacted the band through Facebook and are currently in the process of sorting details with them in terms of the song and their involvement. Due to their being little resources of the band performing online, we can't currently identify the exact style of their music, although their listed influences are Biffy Clyro, Elbow and Kasabian (a band which I had fortunately already researched). They also are fans of Pulp and Arctic Monkeys, with which we have already looked into. Guitarist Toby Womack has been quick to respond to messages and is currently in the process of sending an early demo of the song so we can hear it and begin to brainstorm ideas.
From the informations sent to us from Womack, the song lyrics contain references to the current situation of British homelessness. After further questioning he also expressed interest in a video that crosses between a studio-style performance section featuring the band and a narrative.
Currently, we are still in negotiations with Howl as they have told us that they may be able to reform for a video but we are currently prioritising Tranqua Lite as they are more likely to suit the needs of the course we're doing. Whilst the research we have already done is still applicable to Tranqua Lite, we now need to hear the demo and plan a meeting with the band to confirm details.
After contacting the band Howl for the first time since before Summer I have now come to the discovery that the band is longer together, after 7 years. After further emails I found out the group had separated amiably but were now pursuing other music ventures, having originally being trained in jazz. Drummer Lewis Dutton-Taylor, for example, is now a performer for local jazz and afrobeat bands in the area. This is obviously a huge setback for our group as we needed to quickly find a new music artist, preferably within the indie rock genre we had already researched.
Although we are aware of some friends that play instruments, they don't write original music and we were keen to find a band with a professionally recorded song so that our music video will be as high quality as possible.
As our band is relatively new, it would be beneficial to look at similar, more established bands to understand the target audience they are trying to attract. Therefore we have done some research to find similar groups whose audiences we could study. Pulp formed in 1978 in Sheffield and work in the 'indie rock' genre of music, making it a good band to compare to 'Howl'.
Their general audience are 40-54 year old males of social grade ABC1. However, the male/female split is very fine with their audience being made up of 50.7% men and 49.3% women. This means the gender of the audience can't really be specified.
The age of the audience surprised me as I thought 'Howl's' target audience would be much younger as I usually associate 'indie rock' with young people. However, as this is a 70's band so their fans would have been teenagers when the band formed and have stuck with them through to modern day, causing a general audience age now of 40-54 year olds. This means Howl's target audience are likely to be teenagers. This links to the decision to have their music feature on the Fifa 17 soundtrack which was a designed to appeal to teens.
Their audience age could also be explained by how the indie rock genre was popular in the 80's and has become more popular again now, causing a reflux in the genre. Therefore, a lot of bands with a similar style to howl were formed in the late 70's, 80's and 90's. Due to the age of the audience, their general hobbies include quizzes, scrabble and sudoko showing a general tendency towards problem solving, suggesting that an interesting, more intellectually engaging music video would be more appealing to this particular group of people. They are also football fans and enjoy 'fantasy football' showing that they are inclined towards sport, a theme which could also be incorporated into the music video.
This is a really interesting video of theirs that kind of breaks genre conventions by using a more 'arty' style rather than just performing the song in a live setting. The rotating camera is really memorable and eye catching, making the video stand out rather than just blending into all the other indie rock music videos that exist. It also manages to incorporate a bit of a narrative too, whilst having the lead singer lip synching sections of the song therefore also complying with the genre conventions to a certain extent. I think we should look at this as an influence, perhaps not taking solid ideas from the video as I don't believe it's right for our band, but definitely looking at themes and techniques - artistic elements and the combination of narrative and performance - when coming up with our own ideas.
