Indie Rock Research - Music Videos

Hozier - 'Work Song'  Music video

The video for Hozier's song 'Work Song' , which is  a single off of his self titled debut album released in 2014. It fits very well with the genre of Indie Rock. Unlike popular music and other similar genres, it is very reserved and calm, and does not look like it was needed to be made on a high budget. This shows that Hozier and his type of music fits in with the genre as with Indie Rock it is about the music more than anything. Hozier is featured throughout the music video, playing the song at a concert which is full of people who fit the image of Indie Rock. The people at the concert, most of them couples, dance a routine in sync, which matches the music and the lyrics being sang. The overall colours and lighting of the video is quite faded and the colours used are dull, but it is effective and looks fitting to the overall tone of the music, which is quite slow.


 Lana Del Rey - 'Blue Jeans'  (Music video)

In the music video for Lana Del Rey's song 'Blue Jeans', a song from her 2012 album 'Born to Die', her second studio album. The video is shot in black and white, and has elements of film noir. The video, like Hozier's, is in no way rushed or fast paced and moves slowly and sensually. There are scenes shot in slow-motion, Lana appears as the man's (Bradley Soileau) love interest, which ends in tragedy. It fits the brooding, dark theme to Indie Rock very well, and critics have described the video to be very moody and retro too. It strays from popular music videos, as it is very dark, set in a swimming pool beside a 1950s style house, which is not following the generic sort of music videos that other genres produce. Her other videos follow this, and while many of them have the dark, brooding theme, they are instantly recognisable to be Lana's videos.


 

Arctic Monkeys - 'Arabella' (Music Video)

Like Lana Del Rey's video, Arctic Monkeys' 'Arabella', from their 2012 album 'AM', is shot entirely in black and white, which seems to be a recurring theme in the genre. It also appears to be set back in time, as the front man of the band Alex Turner said in an interview that the name Arabella partly comes from the name of a 1968 French-Italian actress, who was called Barbarella. Considering this, and seeing the music video, it appears to be set in this time. Also the effects on the video, such as the illusion of a camera rolling, and there are also pauses in certain places of the video. The video fits the genre of Indie Rock, as there are a collection of clips of people at a bar drinking and smoking. It fits the rebellious side Indie Rock has, and with the fashion sense of Arctic Monkeys, especially of Alex Turner, it also fits the genre as it definitely does not follow the mainstream.

A Introduction to Indie Rock

Market Research - Magazine Deconstruction of January 2016 'Q'

In this video, I speak about what I discovered doing this market research about the layout of the front cover, as well as what is featured on a double page spread. I found out a lot by doing this research, especially about how magazines tend to stick to an overall theme on each page, even if it is just a subtle similarity on some pages. I also noticed that because there are four people on the front cover, the font is positioned at the bottom of the magazine rather than around the sides. I did look at the contents page too, but I found it resembled a double page spread as rather than having the contents on a single page, it was on a double page. I found this interesting as it is usually the opposite, but I found that it worked as it was more spaced out and set up in a way which makes it look creative yet still maintaining the professional look.

 

Front Cover

 

Contents Page

 

Double Page Spread

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PYPsy9vhcQ&feature=youtu.be

Research Rationale

Research Rationale

The target audience I have chosen to use is 16 to 25 year olds because I am in sixth form and therefore have easy access to students as well as young teachers. I will carry out a number of surveys on different social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, to see what people would like to see in and on the cover of a music magazine, and what catches their eye first. By having access to teenagers in school and an even wider range of people on the Internet, it means I will get a clear response and help me get a better understanding of what is looked for on a music magazine, and what attracts the audience in to buy it. 

For my audience research, I will be conducting a qualitative research so that I will get fully worded and more in depth answers instead of simple ‘yes’ and ‘no answers. This will help me with my research as I will have a deeper knowledge of what teenagers and young adults prefer and their reasons why. I will also get wide variety of responses, although this may become difficult with so many responses.  However, by looking at what the majority of responses are, I can come up with a conclusion from this.

I could also conduct a quantitative research, which requires more statistics and numbers in research and using methods such as graphs and simpler surveys.  This type of research would require me to get opinions of different people and ordering it in a structured way, resulting in a clear conclusion and helping me to decide what features to include in and on the cover of my magazine.

Once I have collected all of my data needed for my magazine, I will be one step closer to achieving a successful, realistic and attractive music magazine.

Magazine Typography

Magazine Typography

Music magazines use a variety of fonts depending on the genre of music it is centered around, but overall there is a theme of large and bold lettering. However, on 'BBC music',the 'music' is written in lowercase letters with the U in italics, which makes it stand out and seem like a pun on the word 'you', This makes it feel more personal and direct to the audience, Kerrang! is written to fit the genre of music it is for, which is alternative rock. The effect of shattered glass it has and the capital letters make it seem quite aggressive, reflecting on the genre it is for.

Magazine Deconstruction

Response to Production Brief

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKsv2iJazxk&feature=youtu.be