I sent a questionnaire to 10 males and 10 females on the website Facebook (as it is easily accessible and easy to respond to surveys with), to find out some things about the audience I wanted to target for my music video.
The questionnaire was as follows:
1. Male/Female?

2. How old are you?
[ 0-16 / 17-26 / 27-36 / 37- 46 / 46+]

3. Where do you buy most of your clothes?
(Topshop / Primark / Black Lace etc)

4. Why do you buy your clothes here?

5. Where do you buy your music?
(HMV / Itunes / Download etc)

6. Why do you buy your music here?

7. How often do you listen to your music?

8. How do you listen to your music?
(iPod / Itunes / WMP / Walkman / Spotify / Mp3 / Cds etc)

9. How do you think the female in a couple is represented in a typical music video?

10. How do you think the male in a couple is represented in a typical music video?



I aimed to keep the questions short and only ask a few, so that my target audience would actually answer the questions, however i had to ask strong questions so as to gather in depth analysis.


The first two questions, tackling gender and age, were to establish our audience demographic and made it so i could distinguish between the different male/female views in the other questions.
Question 3 - 8 were used to find out where my target audience like to shop for clothes and music, and how they like to listen to their music. The aim of this was so i could utilise some of their favourite clothing brands and styles and music technology (e.g iPods) within my music video. I asked where they buy their music and why as a lead on for when i make my digipak and magazine advertisement, to see where they would find the music, so i could create a digipak that would be suitable for particular outlets.
Question 9 and 10 were questions directly involved with my music video. The main two characters of my music video are a couple, and so i wanted to find out how my audience felt they are represented in a music video. However this only gave me negative feedback about how each gender was represented (e.g promiscuous and cheap), so i could have improved this question by asking how my audience thought they should be represented, or by having my audience listen to the track before answering the questions, so they answer the question based on the alternative rock genre of music, as it seems the responses i got were related to the R'n'B and rap genres.




I created this table on Edexcel from the research i collated.
It was difficult to separate the qualitative and the quantitive data in the questions i'd asked, so i used 'Opinions' columns to show the qualititive data.
To present the quantitive data i created a sub-title of the particular issue (For instance under Clothes Shopping i had Discounted Stores/Charity Shops, Highstreet stores and Online). I used these particular titles as these were the main groups my audience responded with. I then wrote the number of people that had answered with a particular preference under each sub-title. To present the qualititive data that i had also recieved as responses to these questions, i created a new row entitled 'Opinions', and here i wrote the main recurring reasons my audience had said why they chose that particular answer (For instance the audience who had answered in the HighStreet group said they shopped there as it was reliable and stylish.)

On Seven Story Down's Myspace page, they have a total of 237 fans. This is a mixture of other, similar unsigned bands (like the Zom Zoms) and older and younger fans. The majority of the fan base are of the younger generation, 17-26 year olds. They are all musically expressive (from looking at their profiles) and are fans of the alternative rock genre, supporting other bands such as Muse, Kids in Glass Houses and Funeral For a Friend. The fans range from areas all around the world, some are from Seattle and some are from Kent, where the band themselves are from.

This is a screen shot of Seven Story Down's Facebook page. It shows the same age and location range of fans. Most of the fans on this page are fans that have seen Seven Story Down playing live in local bars and clubs, supporting other, bigger acts. This is a technique used to promote bands all around the country, even with already signed bands. It helps to introduce the band to a fanbase and helps them to become signed.

Seven Story Down use their Facebook page to interact with fans, they advertise their new tracks on it with the music player, they post status updates advertising these new tracks and also gigs they are playing. The fans themselves use the Facebook page to upload photos they have taken themselves of Seven Story Down playing live gigs, and they can interact with other fans from across the world. The fans leave comments of appreciation and encouragment to the band.

Album covers that inspired my digipack include:



Green Day: International Superhits I liked the bold image of the band in the center, with wording at the top and bottom. This strongly influenced my digipack as i wanted something bold, interesting, and that would stand out from other albums. All American Rejects: Move Along I loved the way the band faded into the background, it made them seem like part of the album instead of just being on the cover.

Unnused inside covers

These are a selection of inside covers I initially wanted to use. They show images of each band members eye and mouth, reflected onto eachother to make a symmetrical image. These came out quite creepy, and wouldn't have worked as backgrounds. This is Ian's, the tones dont blend together well here, but you get the impression of what was intended.
This is Ben's, who'd have been recognised from the video. His mouth doesnt fit in with the rest of him, I tried not reflecting it here, and it hasnt worked.

This is my own one. It's by far the best as it all blends in together, and is the most striking image.

These might have worked better for a heavy metal or punk band again, as they're very "in your face" and striking.

Magazine Advert

This is my final magazine advert. Its very eye catching and appealing. In this i referenced Franz Ferdinand's album, which was influenced by an old German poster, which shows a woman shouting out words, which attracts attention. In my version, instead of using an attractive woman who'll attract attention in an almost sexual way, I used my own, unshaven, unperfect mouth, with subverts expectation, but is still eye catching and interesting. I used colour in this image. This again will draw attention to it, and shows contrast between it and the digipack, even though theres an obvious link between them.

FINAL Digipack sides

I decided to use the theme of a mouth throughout my final digipack. This was inspired by our artists song, "The Kind Of Thing You'd Say". In each of my panels, I have used similar images of my mouth, but being slightly distorted or different in each panel.



This is my final back cover. I carried on the theme of teeth and mouthes throughout. I wanted each tooth to frame each song title. In this I decided to crop to just the teeth, and rotate it to make obvious seporation between each title. I also enhanced the colour of this, which makes the writing stand out and makes the image more interesting. This is a middle page; most cd packs have one page giving some background information about the artist. In this I show each of the supposed band members, with a hint of a picture. I have used the same cutout effect on each picture, using eyes to contrast with the mouth theme. This picture started off as black and white, but i decided to make it almost sepia tone in places, just to make it more interesting and colourful. In this panel, I decided to crop the picture to only show the right side of the mouth, then mirrored it. This makes an eye catching design, frames the text and draws your eye to the center.

In this panel, I decided to write some fictional reviews, which would attract the audience with possitive reactions from some of their favourite musical names. The design of this panel is used to emphasise the writing, and make it stand out. This panel is dark, which makes the white writing bolder. The background image is a similar picture, but flipped upside down. This makes the image interesting, and makes the viewer look twice, as its subtle, which makes it effective.

This is my front cover. Im very pleased with it. I've included the "gig lights", which give the flash of colour it needs, otherwise it would be an average, dull black and white image. The writing on the teeth is well spaced out, and is readable. The mouth suits the song, and the cover suits the genre, as its interesting, but not over done, it shows the band, and is appealing to its audience.

This version not only had overlapping text, but also the light is coming from the middle persons head, which could seem a little biased or may hide the detail of the band members head. The hint of colour really makes an impact, and makes the image interesting. This is just a simple lense flare effect on Photoshop, but it looks like the lighting you'd get when performing on stage. This version has overlapping text, which makes it look messy and hard to read. Its also completely black and white, which makes the image seem to uninteresting and un eye-catching.

This image was one of the bases of my overall developement of my digipack. I used a cutout effect in Photoshop to make it look like a stylised poster. The feet of the band members in the foreground doesnt work with the colour of the background, as it looks too much like they've been cut out, which makes it look unprofessional and tacky.

In developement from my last post, this cover uses images ive taken myself, in the same gory style as my last. Again this would work if it was a metal or punk artist, but not alternative rock.