Tom Odell - Long Way Down Digipak Analysis

Storyboard

Focus Group Analysis

What is your favourite genre of music?

We asked this question as we thought it would give us an idea of whether they would watch our music video or not. The genre of our chosen song is indie. We also asked this question in our survey and alternative/indie turned out to be the most popular genre of music. In our focus group, one person said that indie is their favourite genre of music. We had already chosen our song at this point but we had a backup song in case we couldn’t use the song or we needed another genre of music. We also asked this so we could find out what kind of people would watch our video and it would also help us create a target audience. From the results of our survey and focus group, we were able to make an audience profile to give us a better idea of who would watch our music video. Someone else said that he “likes all genres. If it’s good music or a good music video then I’ll like it”. We would also aim our music video at him as he is also likely to watch our music video. The last person said their favourite genre of music is “pop rock, because I feel that the lyrics mean something and it’s quite lively.”

What do you expect to see in a music video?

This question is useful for us, as it has given us an idea of what people will be looking for in our music video. We took these answers into consideration and decided to use some of these things in our music video. Someone said “Always something quite unusual, definitely seeing a band playing instruments”. Our song is not from a band but the lead singer will be playing the guitar. Someone else said “People in casual clothing, a variety of different locations”. Our main character will be wearing a jumper, leggings and a beanie which is casual. When choosing our costume, we looked at Ellie Goulding for inspiration. “Band footage and people having a good time”, again, we don’t have a band and our song is quite sad so they won’t be too happy but there will be a few shots of them having fun together. Hopefully, this will meet people’s expectations of our music video.

Do you prefer narrative or performance music videos?

We asked our focus group whether they prefer narrative or performance based music videos. We also asked this question in our survey and the majority of people said they prefer both types of music videos. Everyone in our focus group also said that they prefer a mixture of both, performance and narrative music videos. Someone said that “Performance looks quite fun and narrative allows you to understand the story behind the lyrics”. Because of this, we have chosen to use about 70% performance and 30% narrative. This will then allow the audience to feel as though they are watching the artist performing live but they will also understand the story behind the song.

How often do you watch music videos and where do you watch them?

Everyone said that they watch music videos on YouTube, because of this; we will be uploading our music video onto YouTube which will hopefully result in our music video being seen by as many people as possible.  One person claims to watch music videos at least “fourteen times a week”, someone else watches them “once or twice a week” and the last person watches them “everyday”.

Shooting schedule

This is our guide as to when to film for our music video. We will need to keep to this schedule in order to finish on time. This is just a basic guide as there could be a situation that will stop us from filming. This could be something like bad weather or our artist is ill so she can't come in to film. We took this into consideration and allowed some time at the end in case we haven't managed to film everything we need.

Location scouting

To create our music video, we needed a location to film it. We already had our idea so we knew the kind of location we wanted. We looked at music videos of the same genre and we also looked at codes and conventions of our genre of music. We looked at a lot of Ellie Goulding, Kate Nash and Marina and the Diamonds videos. A lot of Ellie Goulding’s music videos are set in big open spaces. We mainly looked at The Writer and Guns and Horses. Kate Nash’s video for OMYGOD! Is set at a beach but we knew that we definitely didn’t want our video set at a beach so we decided on an empty field.

After watching The Writer by Ellie Goulding, we knew that we wanted to film in a big open space where no one else is around. This will hopefully give the audience a sense of loneliness and isolation which will suggest the emotion behind the song. This should also help the audience connect with our artist as they may have experienced similar emotions and they will be able to sympathise with her.

We also looked at the music video for Burn by Ellie Goulding, the music video is bright but is has a colour effect on it so the light doesn't look as natural. We liked this as it is different, like our genre of music. This video is also filmed in a big open space. It looks like it is filmed at a runway at an airport which is usually quite an isolated area as there aren’t many people around. We liked the idea of filming at a runway but we wouldn’t be given access to film there. So we went back to the idea of an empty field.

Overall, we have chosen an empty field where there aren’t many people around but there are trees about so it’s not completely empty. There aren’t many scene changes in our music video but we didn’t want to have too many changes as it may not make sense to the audience. After finding our location, we created a shooting schedule and also filled in a risk assessment. The location is not far from school or Bella’s house so if anything happens, we can easily go back there to take care of whatever needs to be done. We are starting filming in the middle of September but we should be finished by the beginning of October. We have a back-up plan if this is not completed. 

Goodwin's Theory

Costume planning



Choosing the costume for our music video is essential. We both knew that it had to fit with the genre of the song. We researched similar artists for inspiration. We found that there are a lot of patterns, and clashing colours. We mainly looked at Ellie Goulding’s costume choices. Ellie Goulding is known for indie pop, folk pop, synthpop, folktronica, indietronica, dream pop and alternative dance. I looked at her music videos for ‘The Writer’, ‘Your Song’ and ‘Guns and Horses’. In all three videos, she is dressed casually which gives away the genre of the music. If Goulding was a pop artist then she would more likely dress up and look ‘glamorous’. This could appeal to people with the same fashion sense as they could feel that the artist is just a normal person and may feel a connection. In The Writer, Goulding is wearing a sleeveless top and shorts which is just an ordinary outfit that anyone could wear. In the music video for Your Song, Goulding is wearing a coat, jeans and a beanie which is appropriate for the video as she is outside in the cold this is also an outfit that any ordinary person could wear. Lastly, in Guns and Horses, Goulding is wearing skinny jeans and a checked shirt. The skinny jeans and checked shirt look is very popular in indie music videos.

These images show our chosen costume. We decided she should wear a striped jumper since that is very popular in the indie culture and it will also fit with the genre. The striped jumper adds colour to the video but will not distract the audience from the actual video. The black leggings are inspired by Ellie Goulding as she wears them a lot in her videos. They were also easy for us to use as we had a low budget. Finally, the shows are called ‘Creepers’ and they are usually worn by those with an alternative fashion sense which will fit in with out genre as indie and alternative often  go together very well.