Fanbase Research

Research -
We researched John Mayer's target audience by looking at his individual fanbases on Facebook and MySpace.

Below are print screens, showing a selection of his fanbase on social networking sites -

On MySpace he has 470293 friends, the majority being females- therefore our narrative concept for our music video is likely appeal to our target audience -our artist's fans, due to it's intended dreamy, whimsical feel which we think would appeal more to females.

The large number that make up his fanbase is large, it could be said that because of his wide appeal and popularity, the style of our music video is more likely to appeal to the majority rather than, for example an alternative, experimental video format.

His fanbase on Facebook is even larger than on MySpace, at 803,826 (see clearer, cropped image below), confirming the above analysis.

Also four out of the six fans are girls and by looking at their profile images, we can interpret the type of person likely to watch our music video and therefore who we must target it towards.

For example, the fan Grace Potts' picture (see below)connotes a posed image possibly after/before a party of two friends. She seems to be between 17-19 yrs old and has a fun, possibly carefree lifestyle - indicative of our target audience.

Storyboard

1.
We decided to start our video at the end of the narrative. For example, the girl will be sitting on the end of the pontoon and throughout the video the story will unravel and slowly it should become clear to the viewer why the girl is there.
The 3rd -6th sketch relate to the lyrics -"when you're dreaming with a broken heart, the waking up is the hardest part", a close-up will be shown of the girl and boy in bed, then a long shot showing the girl getting out of bed/leaving the boy.

2.
The 9th sketch (see left) showing the landscape and the sun is repeated again in sketch 13, but the shot will show the sun lower down in the sky. For example, each of the shots of the sun will vary to show the sun setting and therefore in at the passing of time, while the girl is running through the woods. Sketches 10-12 show different perspectives and camera angles of the subject/girl to allow the setting (woodland) to be seen and show other aspects of the mise-en-scene, e.g. the bottom of the dress soiled with dirt (sketch 10).

3.
These sketches again begin with the girl running through the woods. Sketches 15 & 16 are flashbacks of earlier in the day or even the evening before. To differentiate between flashbacks and the present we may make the flashbacks black and white, as this medium is normally associated with the past. Sketches 17 & 18 start where the beginning of the video left off (the girl on the pontoon) - now the viewer should understand what happened before to cause the girl to be there.

4.
These two sketches show the ring that she throws into the lake. The last shot will be of the ring slowly sinking into the lake, which will mirror the feeling of impending doom or the loss of romance.

The Pitch

In my group we prepared a presentation which we presented to the class, it was intended to persuade the artist's record company to hire us to create the music video for their artist.
We created a powerpoint presentation to convey our thoughts and ideas for the video etc.

Below is a link to the presentation we used in the pitch -

http://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8S3seYTtW_GZjIxODZjMTgtNWVlMS00Yzc3LTk2N2EtY2IwYTAyMWVjMDA4&hl=en

Below is the video of the pitch itself -

Digipack Research

What is a Digipack?

Digipack is a patented style of compact disk or DVD packaging. They typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. (wikipedia)

Digipacks are a type of CD packaging made out of card stock or other heavy paper/cardboard material. Digipacks can flip open like a book, or it can have three parts, so that one portion of the packaging opens to the right and one to the left, with the CD in the centre portion. (about.com)

Examples of Digipacks -

This is an example of a John Mayer CD digipack.

The neutral theme used throughout the digipack is clean and simple reflecting the artist's ethos, in other words the overall image that the record label wants to convey to the audience. In a way, it mirrors the way his live performances and some of his songs are just him and his guitar, a simple but affective set-out that has earned him an extensive fanbase.

The black and white images hint of a certain nostalgia towards past popular music genres e.g. jazz and are a sort of tribute to that old era of smokey clubs and authentic musicians. This therefore could represent the type of music that is present on the album.
Furthermore the design on the CD itself reminds me of the design used on old vinyls.

This is an example of a Coldplay CD digipack.

Considering Coldplay fit into the rock genre, this album cover etc. looks more alternative, due to the abstract illustrations. Each illustration could be seen as indicative of a certain historical event, period or era. For example, the cover art is an excerpt from the painting by Eugene Delacroix called 'Liberty Leading the People' depicting a scene from the French Revolution in the 1800s. Due to the powerful ideal behind the painting and the overall strength related to this historical period, it could be said that the band wanted to convey the message behind their lyrics and songs on the album, for example the idea of struggle but also liberation are explored in both the album cover and their lyrics.

The back panel is a more serene photograph that still, due to the sepia tone, harks back to another era or past.

The middle pages of the insert of the CD (see left image) remind me of a certain psychometric test - the Rorschach inkblot test, used to examine a person's personality characteristics and emotional functioning. At the time, this was a new concept and was hit by numerous complaints and controversy over its radical unique approach. Therefore this could represent the type of music apparent on the CD - a new, unique type of music that was a shift from their music before.

Secondly the random writing around the central image could be representative of the Free Association technique founded by Sigmund Freud, the idea that patients speak freely about whatever comes into their mind and through this problems or conflicts in their sub-conscious are resolved. Again this could mirror the band's approach to songwriting - it is a stream of consciousness, and hinting at the possible hidden meanings behind their lyrics.

Finally, the back panel and the CD itself, reminds me of an old hardback book, embossed with gold ink, which furthers the above connotations of the Coldplay's overall digipack for their album 'Viva La Vida' - a reminiscence or tribute of by-gone eras and pivotal foundings of previous generations.

What is a Promopack?

A promopack encompasses both the digipack (see above for description etc.) and the music video itself. It is important that both the video and digipack are linked in some way, so that they are easily recognisable on their own and look complete when together. This can be achieved in many ways. For example, using a still from the video itself on the cover of the digipack.