Blog 6- Video Analysis

I went on to look at 2 videos that Florence + The Machine have released for analysis.

This is the link for their "Dog Days Are Over" video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGrx6etMl0w

And this is the link for their "Raise it Up" video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9tXxO5fYfo&feature=channel

From watching both of these videos it is easy to see that there is a definite theme with both of them. Florence + The Machine like to have a sense of fun in their videos, in both we see people dressed up, for example we have clowns and people dressed up and covered in bright paint in the 'Dog Days' video and everyone dressed up in the 'Raise it Up' video in togas and other outfits that remind you of greek mythology. Both of the videos use bright colours in the costumes or in the background set, for example coloured flags/bunting and glitter.

The videos are both filmed in quite natural settings, 'Raise it Up' situated in fields with surrounding trees or in long grass and near a lake. 'Dog Days' is situated in woodland throughout. Both of the videos are filmed somewhat during the day, giving the videos a summery film and using the suns rays as an advantage. 'Dog Days' however is filmed in the night as well, however the set lighting glows brightly on the characters and still allows the theme of the bright colours to remain as well as the mystery of the whole video to stay intact. I really like how the 'Raise It Up' video uses overlapping techniques and it could maybe be something to use in the video.

I think that the genre that would be most attracted to these videos would be females, as the videos certainly have a feminine feel with the extravagant costumes, excess glitter and the general summery feelings that run through the videos.

Representation for the two videos is good for males and females, however the majority of the people in the videos are white. I don't think this was intentional however it may be something to think about when making our music video. The videos use an age range of about 20-30 which means that younger and older people have perhaps been overlooked. However, I don't think that they would have fitted in well with the overall feel of the videos.

The narrative of the 'Raise It Up' videos is quite clear. Florence's lyrics talk about Midas, the King from Greek Mythology, and also about his story where his touch turned things to gold.
"Midas is king and he holds me so tight
And turns me to gold in the sunlight"
The theme of Greek Mythology is carried through the video, with the characters dancing in togas and sitting down to a feast that could classically represent what Greek royalty may have eaten to- bowls of grapes and pig's heads. We also hear lyrics about a sacrifice, and this could be represented in the video, when the table that Florence is lying on becomes a coffin and she is put on the lake and left to drift away.

The narrative in the 'Dog Days' video is a little harder to understand in my opinion but this could just show that Florence didn't nessacerrily want to have a story in her video that went a long with her song. She could have instead just wanted to stick with the interesting looking videos even if they have no relevance. However there is lyrics in the song that talk about her running for her life.
"run fast for your mother run fast for your father
run for your children for your sisters and brothers"
This could be reflected at the beginning of the video when Florence is shown to be running away from something through the forest.

The videos communicate a meaning of dancing, fun, bright colours and glamourous/individual outfits, summer and they have a general natural tone to them. We need to consider these things when making our music video to make sure we get a feel for what Florence + The Machine's music videos are about.

Both of the videos also show Florence as quite a powerful female, with the men in the videos often bowing down to her or respecting her as someone who is above them in the social status. We need to make sure that we incorporate this into our final video piece as it is something that occurs quite frequently in Florence and the Machine's videos.

Blog 5- Target Audience of Artist

From conducting research, I have come to the conclusion that Florence + The Machine are a group that appeal to almost anyone.

Florence has appeared on the front of magazines such as 'NME', wh

ose audience comprises of the age range of 15-44 and the upper ABC1 population, according to the National Readership Survey (NRS) (http://www.nrs.co.uk/toplinereadership.html)

Florence has also appeared on the front of 'Q' magazine, whose audience according the the NRS has a similar audience to that of 'NME' with the majority who buy the magazine in ABC1 and in the 15-44 age range.

Both these magazines tend to lean towards the male gender, however research has shown me that Florence has also appeared on the front of magazines such as 'Grazia'- a predominantly older female based fashion magazine, and also in articles featured in magazines such as 'Teen Vogue' which bends towards the younger female age range.

Florence + The Machine come under the 'pop' genre, mainly because of their huge success on the pop charts. On iTunes, Florence + The Machine are still in the top 100, at number 93 with their single "Dog Days Are Over" even though it was first released in 2008 and then again in 2010 with a new video. Their album, "Lungs" is currently ranked at number 70 on iTunes, even though it was released in July 2009. It is ranked number 23 on the BBC Radio 1 Album Charts and has been there for 64 weeks. The BBC Radio 1 show is listened to by a wide variety of people which shows the success of Florence + The Machine and why they may appeal to a wide range of people. I believe another reason why Florence + The Machine are so popular is because of their unique sound, using instruments such as harps, and of course Florence's distant singing voice. I went and found a few of her official fan pages to find out what other thought made Florence + The Machine so popular.

You get an idea about how popular Florence + The Machine are through looking at her official Facebook page.She has over 660,403 people supporting her on this page and her Myspace page has 64595 friends and 4897340 profile views. This again shows her popularity and extensive fan base.

I asked some of my friends to tell me what they thought made Florence + The Machine so popular and these were some of the responses:

"She's got a unique singing voice and presents/dresses herself in a unique manner. This helps explain the attraction from her mixed fan base. She is also quite opposed to 'mainstream trash'."

"The 'Rabbit Heart' video helps to show Florence not as the typical female vocalist sex symbol but as an artist passionate about interesting writing, with perculiar videos to accompany them. This helps reinstate that she is passionate about her work."

"I reckon she is successful because she is different, she is a good performer and extremely striking. I'd say she has a wide target audience ranging from children to middle age, or perhaps even older than that."

Because Florence + The Machine have come across to many people as being unique, individual, striking and perculiar with a particular style, we are going to have to make sure we use all this to our advantgae in our own music video so that we can really reflect the Florence style that everyone can relate to and recognise. From looking looking at the research and realising that Florence can appeal to both men and women we need to make sure our music video appeals to both of these genres.

I interviewed some friends that fit in the age range that the National Readership Survey evaluated as being the most popular for Florence and the Machine. This is their opinions on her and her target audience.

The videos back up my point about Florence and The Machine being popular with both genders and within an age range of around 15-30.

Blog 4- Permission

We had to write an email to the record label asking for copyright permission to use the song for our music video. This is the email I wrote to Island Records asking for permission to use their artists song.

Copyright is important to the music industry because without it, the music industry and the artists themselves would not be making money as their music would be being stolen and giving credit to someone else. Copyright is currently a major issue especially since the emergence of the MP3 player as people want to fill their music player up and so will go to measures such as downloading music illegally and free which comes as a great cost to the music company itself.

Infringing someone else's copyright may subject you to legal action, including being forced to stop using the work or pay financial damages.

Blog 3- Song Choice

For our music video we decided to use the song 'My Boy Builds Coffins' by Florence and the Machine. When we listened to this song for the first time we knew it was a good choice because we could already begin to think of ideas for our music video just from listening to the song. It has quite a vintage feel to it, and living near woodland we thought that we could perhaps film some of the scenes in there as it would go well with the feel of the song. We were thinking of doing a video to artists such as Mumford and Sons and 3oh!3, however it was hard to find a song that they had not made a video to and also 3oh!3 used some offensive language in the songs we were looking at.

This is a link for 'My Boy Builds Coffins'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7baoTqocJs

This is the lyrics for our chosen track:

My boy builds coffins with hammers and nails
He doesn't build ships, he has no use for sails
He doesn't make tables, dresses or chairs
He can't carve a whistle cause he just doesn't care

My boy builds coffins for the rich and the poor
Kings and queens them all knocked on his door
Beggars and liars, gypsies and thieves
They all come to impact he's so eager to please

My boy builds coffins he makes them all day
But it's not just for work and it isn't for play
He's made one for himself
One for me too
One of these days he'll make one for you

My boy builds coffins for better or worse
Some say its a blessing, some say its a curse
He fits them together in sunshine or rain
Each one is unique, no two are the same

My boy builds coffins and i think it's a shame
That when eachones been made, he can't see it again
He crafts every one with love and repair
Then its thrown in the ground and it just doesn't fit

My boy builds coffins he makes them all day
But it's not just for work and it isn't for play
He's made one for himself
One for me too
One of these days he'll make one for you