2. First thoughts for
the videoâŠ
Song Options:
-Two Door Cinema Club / What you know
-Two Door Cinema Club / Cigarettes in the
theatre
-Daughter / Youth
-Olivver the kid / The Woods
3. The Song - The Woods
The song we have agreed on doing a music video for is âThe Woodsâ by Olivver the kid.
We have chosen this song for many reasons one of them is because it has many sections with
different tempos in the music especially between the verses/choruses. This is a great factor
in my opinion because itâll allow more fast/slow paced editing to happen with it still
matching the music.
Secondly weâre drawn to this song is because of the lyrics and how they already have a
meaning/story of their own and it would definitely be nice to bring this to life. This
because when you do really look into the lyrics and think about them they are very relatable
and you can understand what the artist was feeling at the time they were writing the song.
The artist - Olivver the kid
Olivver the Kid is the solo project of Bryan Sammis, former drummer of The
Neighbourhood, who left the group in January 2014.
He has since leaving the group released 2 EPâs âFreakâ in 2014 and âThe Boy
who cried Wolfâ which was released on the 16th of October 2015. Both these
albums released by his own label ĂV.
4. The Song - Lyrics analysis
[Intro]
Waking up in the middle of the woods
Naked in the middle of the woods
[Verse 1]
Iâve seen all the wolves in this place
Iâve been a wolf in this place
Iâve been watching the rats in the race
I was a rat in the race
Iâve seen the love in me fade
I am no longer here: the place I fear, the place that fills me
You are: the words I feel, the knot that heals, the place I kneel to
This suggests that heâs changed and
experienced both sides of the situation
heâs in.
This verse of a song which is about
addiction and being able to escape
shows his journey before and during his
addiction.
5. [Chorus](x2)
Tell me that you want to leave with me
Tell me that you want to go with me
Donât you want to get out of here?
Out of the woods?
[Verse 2]
We walk down to the ocean, your sarcasm heavy laden on me
Your eye contact leaves a message
My love stacked on top of the trees
You brought me down to the river & you pushed me in hoping that the white rapids would
challenge my ability to swim
You are the words I feel
Youâre how I deal
Youâre who I run to
This lyric shows how heâs questioning
himself about whether he wants to stop
and escape this dark place in his life
(the woods).
However if the song does talk about
his love life as well it could also
relate to how heâs feeling about the
person heâs with.
This almost shows how heâs been
faced with a challenge that could
make or break him and overcome
what heâs going through ( the
âwhite rapidsâ)
We believe he is talking about how
he relies on the person heâs in a
relationship with and/or his
addiction which he is going
through and how it is hard to
eascape for him.
6. [Chorus](x2)
[Verse 3]
I walk you down to the willow to show you the leaves
I say âthey are just like us, ever changing into the breezeâ
You pick up two handfuls
You tell me âtheyâre all dried up & deadâ
You know thatâs nothing like us
Weâll live forever instead
[Chorus](x5)
Tell me that you want to leave with me
Tell me that you want to go with me
Donât you want to get out of here?
Out of the woods?
This verse focuses on the
fact heâs changed -
looking on the positive
side and focusing on the
good of the woods instead
of escaping it.
This in contrast to the two
verses prior show the other
side of âthe woodsâ this
being the negative side
showing his urge to escape.
The repeating of the chorus
emphasizes the questions heâs
always thinking about and how heâs
undecided on what he wants to do
about the situation heâs in.
7. The storyline
We havenât got a clear storyline planned currently for our video but
we are planning on taking some inspiration from one of his other
songs âWorld on fireâ as we would like to make a video which fits
with his previous work whilst still putting our own twist on it.
We were mainly thinking about the main location for the video being
in a wooded area. This because maybe as part of the story the
protagonist heads into the woods to escape from everyone around him.
Also the woods would help to create more of a sense of
isolation/entrapment because of the vast amount of trees.
We were thinking as well for some parts of the video to take place in
the studio even though this isnât a common convention in this genre.
We believe if in the studio we project images/videos of the storyline
over the actor itâll suit the genre more but also create a more
deeper meaning. This would almost be like the actor is telling the
story whilst itâs playing out in front of them.
9. Future audience planning and surveys
As part of the planning of the
music video we have created an
audience survey and currently
are working on analysing the
results. Also we have planned
several interview questions and
have planned to film a focus
group discussion; all in which
will help us to learn about our
target audience.
10. These emails show that we have been given
permission from the artist to use his track
in our music video. We are very pleased
that he has contacted us on a personal
basis.
12. Name three music videos that you like and are distinctive
to you
13. To sum up:
The Majority of people in this survey preferred
alternative pop/indie music which corresponds to the
genre of the song we have chosen for our project.
Artists such as 1975, Nathaniel Rateliff, Kimberly
Anne, two door cinema club, Lucy Rose, Lana Del Rey and
Halsey, who have all been mentioned in this survey fit
with our genre of alternative indie music and are all
quite a similar style to Olivver the Kid. Therefore
this suggests that to please the audience who will be
watching and listening to our music video we need to do
it in a style that is relevant to trends within this
genre of music.
14. In your own words, what three things would make you
want to re-watch a music video?
15. To sum up:
From this survey question we can gather common
things that our audience look for for them to
want to re-watch a music video; these are:
- Good narrative within the music video
- The artist or band been in the video
- Good quality film/ camera angles and
nice imagery
- Catchy song
- Different, interesting locations
From finding these results, we will use this
information in the making and planning of our
music video. This is so that our video is
suited for our target audiences interests and
preferred style of film to make them want to
re-watch the music video
16. What features of an album cover would particularly
stand out to you ?
17. To sum up:
From our survey, we have collated design & style
features of an album cover our respondents said would
stand out to them. The most common features mentioned
and what we can assume are most important in the design
are:
- Bright or neutral colour scheme
- Bold text
- Art or graphics
- Photograph of the artist or band
- Nice font that corresponds with overall design
- Good photography/ imagery
- Overall Simplistic layout
Some of the listed criteria are opposing; like the
colour scheme or what should be the main subject on the
cover. Therefore in the production of the album cover we
can experiment with different styles or designs that
have been mentioned and see what fits with the overall
music video and artist best.
18. In a magazine advertisement for a new single release,
what would you look for to interest you into watching
the music video?
19. To sum up:
From our survey we can conclude that In order to
interest the audience into watching and listening to a
new single release that is advertised in a magazine, we
would need to include:
- Still images/ screenshots of parts of the music
video
- Picture of artist
- Nice photography
- Interview quotations from artist or band member
- Short reveiw
- Context behind the song & what it means
In conclusion we can take that our target audience are
more interested in what the artist or band represent and
what their music means to them, rather than been
informed more about the technical aspects of their music
or a biography.
In relation to the idea of reviews we could try and find
one from a respected and well known artist to put in the
magazine article. This would initially interest the
audience even if they had never heard of Olivver the
Kid because if the person whoâs recommending them was a
well known musician, it makes the audience trust their
opinion and would make them want to listen to the music
they have reccomended.
20. What would you prefer to see in a music video ?
The highest scoring format for a music
video with the majority of 60%
respondents was to have â A short story
that intertwines with shots of different
locations or the band playingâ. The
second most popular format , as shown
clearly on the bar chart was to have ,
âA short story line of an individual
that relates to the song lyricsâ. These
both use the concept of narrative,
whereâs the other two options are more
conventional formats that are common in
the pop and rock industry. Therefore we
can conclude that the majority of our
audience prefer the alternative/ indie
style of music video that tend to use
narrative. This question's response has
solidified our initial ideas of using a
storyline in our music videos and we can
experiment with different locations,
sets and designs of how to relate a
story to our chosen song.
21. What locations would you find more interesting to see
in a music video?
This survey question hasnât got as
big of a significance between the
number of responses per option. The
amount of respondents who said they
would find an urban environment or
a woodland interesting in a music
video where both the same. However
there was an extra 10% more that
said they would find an old
deserted building more interesting.
Although that it the most popular
there still isnât much difference
between the three therefore if we
choose the format of using a
selection of different locations,
we could experiment with all three
and either include them all or
choose which ones work best with
the lyrics and aesthetic aspects of
the film.
22. What album cover design would you prefer the look of ?
This survey question does have a
significant differentiation between
the responses. 55% of the people
who took this survey said that on
an album cover they would prefer
âneutral colours, nice imagery and
more subtle textâ. One one of the
open questions we also had on the
survey the results varied more and
it didnât seem as if there was a
significant different between the
idea of a bright or neutral colour
scheme for the album cover.
Although this graph gives us a
clearer insight the two questions
varied because the open question
was regarding what would stand out,
whereas this one was what they
prefer it to look like. Therefore
this still gives us the freedom to
experiment with what suits the song
and overall style of the artist.
23. What would you prefer a music videos album cover and
magazine advert to be like?
From the graph, we can
conclude that the idea of
using a still image, from
the music video, as the main
feature or background for
both the magazine advert and
album cover was most
popular. 65% of responses
voted that they would prefer
this format to link the two
together. Therefore we will
take this forward and use
this feedback in our design
for the magazine advert and
album cover. This idea also
provides synergy amongst
everything surrounding the
new release and is something
that is commonly used in the
media industry.
24. What percentage do you think a music video contributes
to the success of a band or artist?
The average percentage for how much the
respondents thought a music video
contributes to the success of an artist was
56%. This doesn't give us concrete evidence
that the success of the artist relies
entirely on the music video. However is
does show that the music video does still
have a big part in how successful the
artist is. The other main factors that
contribute to their success is the actual
song and the artist's reputation in the
industry. Therefore we can use the
information from this graph to conclude
that we need the music video to be
reflective of what the band âOlivver the
kidâ stand for & their lyrics. âThe woodsâ
during the chorus is quite catchy and has a
strong beat, we could use techniques like
cutting rate to emphasise this. This can
actually make people want to rewatch the
video and lead to a more successful video.
25. What would you like to see on a band / artists DVD?
The most popular choice of
what the respondents said
they would prefer to see on
a band/artists DVD would be
from behind the scenes clips
of the making of the music
video.
Although weâre not actually
making the DVDâs content, we
do have to state on the
digital package what the DVD
would contain. We will
therefore use this feedback
in the design of our digital
package for âthe woodsâ new
release.
