Lewis Watson Demographics

Lewis Watson is a nineteen year old singer-songwriter. He began performing in May 2011 and has had his songs played on MTV, AKA and 1Xtra.

He has over 35 thousand followers on twitter who are able to receive constant updates about his life and next music projects. A quick look at his followers and it was apparent that the majority of them were teenage girls.

He has over 45 thousand subscribers on his YouTube account and well over 4 million views and uses the social network as a platform to share his stuff with the world. The song Windows by Lewis Watson (the song to which we will make a video to) already as a video on YouTube and has over 80,000 views and lots of comments. We looked into who commented on his video and the majority were girls which made sense in relation to his twitter followers although some comments were by people who can relate to his songs and are similar to him. We then looked into the demographics of the video and that showed that mainly Females aged 13-24 years old had listened to it but that males aged 13-17 have also watched it too. His music is popular within the UK, Ireland and even Australia, he just recently got back from a little tour there. 

He has over 45 thousand subscribers on his YouTube account and well over 4 million views and uses the social network as a platform to share his stuff with the world. The song Windows by Lewis Watson (the song to which we will make a video to) already as a video on YouTube and has over 80,000 views and lots of comments. We looked into who commented on his video and the majority were girls which made sense in relation to his twitter followers although some comments were by people who can relate to his songs and are similar to him. We then looked into the demographics of the video and that showed that mainly Females aged 13-24 years old had listened to it but that males aged 13-17 have also watched it too. His music is popular within the UK, Ireland and even Australia, he just recently got back from a little tour there. 

We also had a look into how the people that watched his video cam across it and the majority was linked from either other videos of his, his Twitter/Facebook or from a Google search.

His Facebook like page has nearly reached 24 thousand likes which is a huge amount, and the majority of this likes come from females aged between 13 and 17. It also shows that the most popular like location is in the UK and is London. More people than ever are talking about him and he shares a lot of photos and gig information through this page so it keeps everyone up to date.

Lewis also has Tumblr which he uses to upload photos of himself as well as his music. This is the most popular way to find out what he is doing as he already has way over one million views.

Song Permission

As Lewis Watson has a Twitter account, we felt that this was the easiest way to contact him to ask him whether we could use his song. We were very pleased when he replied giving us his permission.

Goodwin's Theory Examples

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics..

The genre of Kanye West's Homecoming video follows suit with Kanye's usual associated genre of RnB. The video itself uses black and white lighting effects to give a harsh, bold and strong presence of the artist. A recurring theme in Kanye's music videos is that he portrays himself as both physically and mentally strong. This is apparent in Homecoming as the use of the low angle camera shots make him seem powerful and domineering over his audience, as if he thinks himself high over them/ The video is about Kanye visiting his 'hometown' of Chicago, therefore the panning shots and close up shops of him looking around Chicago and reminiscing on his childhood. The further close up shots of the kids could represent Kanye, himself, in his childhood. However the low key lighting keeps specific facial details ambiguous. The city is frequently shown inside the silhouette effect of Kanye and Chris performing, symbolising that the city is a part of him and he takes it everywhere with him.

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals..

There is a significantly detailed use of cross fading, switching from a mid/ tracking shot of Florence dancing in the center of everyone to a close up of her hand resting on the side of her face. There are potentially many reasons why the director chose to use this editing technique however one reason could be for textual or lyrical cohesion. The song 'Rabbit Heart' repeats the line 'Raise it up' multiple times which, I believe, to have some spiritual significance. As in 'raise it up' from the dead which the seemingly not choreographed dancing implies. This theme is carried throughout the video as another time she is pushed out to sea on a coffin-like box which has biblical references.

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals...

Usually, there is a relationship between music and visuals; especially in mainstream/ hip hop videos. An example of this is when there is a guitar solo being performed during the song and the camera usually focuses on the musician/artist performing the solo with his instrument. In Dappy's song 'Rockstar' featuring Brian May, towards the end of the video there is a jump cut into a mid shot and close ups of Brian performing his solo.

Another example is in Drake's video 'Take Care' featuring Rihanna. The song itself is about taking care of a partner or a person in which you are in romantic relation with. During the video, Drake, himself, and Rihanna show signs of affection between each other as they are sitting close together and touching each other in a romantic way. 

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work...

Lady Gaga is a great example of a record label's influence as in her video 'Bad Romance' she demonstrates her signature hand gesture of her 'Monster Claw'. To her fans, she identifies herself as 'Mother Monster' and all her fans are her 'little monsters'; this keeps them involved and they feel apart of her and her videos. Below is the video for 'Bad Romance' where she demonstrates this.

5. There is frequently reference to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body...

6. There is often inter-textual reference...

Song Choice

After looking at a number of artists we found on YouTube, we came across an artist called Lewis Watson who is an indie/acoustic singer-songwriter. We listened to all of his songs and finally decided on his song 'Windows'. He already has created a music video for this, however we are confident that we can create something very different than what he has. The lyrics are fairly sad however the melody is fairly up beat and happy which is a contrast we were looking for when looking for a song.

windows 

i'm not here to startle you
hell, i only came 'cause you asked me to
it's such a shame that we can't renew
all those feelings that we shared back a month or two

you know, i kept everything that reminds me of us
it sounds weird but your picture's still hung up
i've tried getting distracted by other stuff
but that's not enough

i'm sleeping with a pillow, under lamplight.
freezing cold, 'cause you always liked the windows opened wide.
just so you know, i'll be here when you make it home.

i'll call you up at like 3am, again
just to make sure you know that i don't mind waiting,
although the call will end with us both saying
that we both hate this

i'm not sleeping too well, now i'm sleeping alone
and all you have to do is pick up the phone
and i'll come running to your aid but i'm sure you know
this won't help us grow

i'm still sleeping with a pillow, under lamplight.
freezing cold, 'cause you always liked the windows opened wide.
just so you know, i'll be here when you make it home.

Chosen Genre

Our chosen genre is indie. We felt that this would be the perfect genre as we are all interested in it and we have already proved that we are confident with working together and knowing what each others strengths and weaknesses are after working with each other for the preliminary task.

Interview 1

Rachel Wilson, 44

1. What kind of music were you into when you were my age?

Genre - Rock, New Romantic and Folk.

Artists - Bruce Springsteen, Spandau Ballet, Chris De Burgh, Dire Straits, ABBA, The Police, Simply Red, Elvis Costello

2. How did you access it?

• Listened to the radio and taped the songs onto cassettes
• Went to numerous concerts
• Bought records and cassette tapes
• Tape to tape - copy friends cassette tapes
• Listening to Top 40 every Sunday night
• Live music in pubs

 

3. Do you think you followed a particular subculture?

"I was very grungy, I used to wear my Dad's cricket jumper and customised my jeans whilst my friends would wear rara skirts" 

4. How long did it last?

"When I began University."

Audience Theory

There are two different types of audience. The active audience choose what they want to watch or listen to which means they know exactly what they want and what genres and artists they are interested in. Whereas the passive audience would watch a programme or listen to a song just because it was on the television or radio.

People can make these choices through...

• Commenting on YouTube videos
• Following what an artist is doing through liking or following them on social networking sites 
• Looking on the band or artists website 
• Going to a band or artists concert
• Buying an artists album
• Watching music channels
• Pre ordering CDs

Making choices now was very different to making a choice in the past. Watching Top Of The Pops, listening to the radio, reading magazines and word of mouth were really the only ways people were able to make a choice in what kind of genre/artist they liked.

Uses and gratifications theory - McQuail

Reasons for active choice by media audiences:

Personal identity

Changing your characteristics/image to fit to an artist or character from a TV show or film.

Personal relationships

Using media to meet new people.

Information and updates

Watching the news to find out what is happening in the world.

Escapism and diversion/entertainment

For fun, relaxation and being diverted from problems.