Target Audience Research

Using social networking sites for the ARTIST  (Facebook & Myspace)  collect research on who your target audience is (The friends - age, gender, culture, interests, their profile, discuss their values etc)

If your artists has no page, use a well known artist in the same Genre.

Consider:
Fashion
Appearance
Values/Interests
Opinions

Show that you have considered how you will reach them in your ideas for the video, their expectations of the genre - collect any relevant comments from this Fanbase - post influences & existing videos you have researched to get their opinions along with the track.

Print screen the comments and link to events/pages etc

Remember make reflective and analytical

Examiners feedback & assessment

Examiners’ Reports – June 2011 

G324 Principal Moderator’s Report

General Comments Most centres responded effectively to the electronic nature of this Specification; many presented work through blogs and in the best practice candidates’ blogs were accessed through a central blog hub. Blogs allowed centres to present all five elements of each candidate’s work (the research and planning, the main construction task, the two ancillaries and the evaluation) in a dynamic and flexible manner. The blogs that worked best were labelled with candidates’ names and numbers and permissions were set so that the moderator could access the blog with ease. 

RESEARCH & PLANNING The best research and planning was evidenced through ongoing blogs, demonstrating the real processes undertaken by the candidate. Such blogs included embedded video, such as work they had analysed or of audience interviews, experimental footage, perhaps with an audio track explaining the process, or animatics. This was uploaded via providers such as You Tube (often using the annotation facility), Muzu or Vimeo. The best blogs also included audio such as podcasts, audio commentaries or audience interviews (which could be recorded on or uploaded from their phones via Soundcloud, for example). The most effective blogs had images of a wide range of things, including drafts of print materials, storyboards, mind maps, recce shots, make up tests, permission request letters for the music video brief, risk assessment forms. The best ones were thoroughly hyperlinked to the range of sites visited and referred to. Blogs also allowed teachers and classmates to be able to comment on the work in progress, giving invaluable feedback and suggestions for further exploration at every stage. 

All the best research was focused, relevant and analytical, rather than descriptive, and looked closely at a range of similar products which then informed the candidate’s planning of all of their own products. It proved vital that candidates researched and planned all three of their products carefully, the main task and the two ancillaries. Audience research was done well in those centres that did more than just questionnaires and graphs. Social networking sites were used to good effect by some candidates undertaking both audience research and audience feedback. Others used online survey sites. The most detailed audience research produced more effective productions, in terms of being genre products, and were more appropriate for their selected target audience. 

Drafting is essential for all productions, not just because the assessment criteria says it needs to be there – but also because it produces the best constructions; storyboards or animatics all help identify potential problems before production starts. This can also help in more effective deployment of the Centre’s resources – less time will be needed re-filming, for example, if an animatic shows early on that there is a gap in a narrative that needs to be filled. Storyboards completed after filming have no use. All three tasks benefit from careful research and planning. Stronger candidates also included shooting schedules and call sheets. Risk assessments were undertaken by a small proportion of centres. Several centres demonstrated very worrying health and safety issues that must be addressed in future sessions. The best blogs were also well labelled, tagged and titled so that the moderator could easily identify each of the relevant entries. 

CONSTRUCTION

In the Music Promotion brief this session, there was an increase in the proportion of lip-synched performance over a purely narrative approach. This development is to be encouraged, as the narrative videos look more like short films and tend to lose function as a promotional tool for the artist. Some of these responses, as in previous sessions, have shown real flair and imagination combined with technical control; more candidates seemed to show more of the visual aesthetic with some excellent shot choices and mise en scene. 

Digipack: 

A greater number of candidates submitted the required number of panes to be a digipak (ie at least four) and had clearly been taught the technical skills to be able to manipulate their images and combine effectively with text, although a surprising number did not include basic institutional elements such as a barcode and copyright information. 

The magazine advertisements and web pages were generally less successful. Many web pages were not online with working urls (WE ARE USING WIX SO IT'S OK) but were just jpegs of a design for a site. This is not acceptable under this Specification. Not all candidates evidenced the requirement to ask the rights holders of the music track for permission to use it in their video. 

what is a digipack?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digipak

timeline analysis

Break the song into sections - identify what visually you are going to put where in the song

The result of constructing an Image for an artist

Hi All

Please have a look at www.youmeatsix.com

Notice that they have the following shared themes of criminality running through their music video as well as their webiste.

So what Image has the label constructed for them?

Criminiality?
Anarchic?
Libertines?
Outlaws - this one has particular romantic and attractive connotations which could sell.

Also notice the uniforms and mugshot cards 'LAPD' = Los Angeles Police Department (in California, USA)

Which market are they selling to - British or American? Do they have a British or US Rock sound?

Finally this is the reality of where this band comes from -

So how far removed from the truth is their Image? So what is the process of constructing this 'stage persona' for a band struggling against the law?

Recap

The webiste, video and album cover all share the same Image & concept

The Image is an attractive work of fiction to sell to an audience.


How can you apply this process to your own artist?

Thanks

Mr.B

Institutions, Marketing & Campaign Strategy

Task 1: Institutions & Marketing Methods (thinking task)

Research into this

annotate the list Desirable, Expensive, Lucrative

Task 2: Campaign Strategy (Collage & Screen shots with annotations)

a) Identify how last years student's Music Video, Digipack and Websites have a CONSISTENT STYLE & UNIFIED PURPOSE 

• Themes
• Image
• Visual Style (colours, fonts, effects, iconography)
• Mode of address to appeal to the target audience

Look at examples of last years successful students

b) Apply - using your Research into existing Promotional Campaign & your Research into Websites create an overall plan of how your 3 forms will work together to promote your audience - create a Collage of INFLUENCES of how the webiste will look, designs for the digipack & Music Videos visual style (effects, colours etc) to communicate a consistent:

• Theme
• Image
• Visual Style
• Mode of address to appeal to the target audience

across the 3 forms

Task 3: Institutions & Marketing Strategy (Prezi & Collage)

Present question 1 as a Prezi with a Collage of images of the specific Institutions - record company, magazines, channels, festivals you will be using - include release date for album, dates for tours/festivals and when your campaign will start

Question 2 requires you to justify why you are spending the marketing budget on each method - why this channel/magazine, what benefit/function - reach to your target audience?

Task 4: Annotate your post

Mr.B

PS - make sure you identify which which music tv stations, radio stations, magazines, websites etc you will advertise on - provide images. You are spending my marketing budget on this so i want to know where it is going!


Include dates for the release, single, festivals, video/advertising - how many weeks before the album release date - is the tour the money earner or the album, which is promoting which and which would come out first?