JAWS (Artist research)

JAWS are an English indie pop band formed in Birmingham, England in 2012 after singer Connor Schofield had posted a demo (Holy Cat) online that received enough positive feedback to encourage him to start a band with friends from Halesowen College. They have often been identified as part of the Digbeth-based B-Town scene and hotly tipped as ones to watch.
Jaws have published two EPs so far, and have also released four singles "Toucan Surf", "Surround You", "Friend Like You" and "Gold". The B side of "Surround You"—"Stay In" featuring on the Ubisoft game Rocksmith 2014. "Gold" was featured in an episode of Hollyoaks. They have toured with The Twang, Peace, Swim Deep, Spector as well as various support slots.
In December 2013 the band announced via their Facebook page that they would be recording a full studio album in 2014 partially funded by the PRS. In April their next single will be released called "Think Too Much, Feel Too Little".
In June 2014 the band announced the Debut album "Be Slowly" would be released on 15 September that year. The band announced over Twitter a tour in September, stopping at Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow and plenty more. Support acts being Fickle Friends, Milk Teeth and Brawlers.
On 27 April 2015, JAWS shared the standalone single "Bad Company" via Huw Stephens Radio 1 show.

Band member

Connor Schofield – lead vocals, guitar (2012–present)

Alex Hudson – guitars (2012–present)

Eddy Geach – drums (2012–present)

Jake Cooper – bass (2012–2015)

Below we see a discography and all music videos that have been previously made by JAWS

This is 'Right in Front of Me' is taken from JAWS forthcoming album 'Simplicity'. It is simply official audio not an actual music video. 

Official video for "Be Slowly" by JAWS. Taken from the Debut Album "Be Slowly. This is a performance based video with no narrative.

'Just A Boy' is taken from JAWS forthcoming album 'Simplicity'. Which is simply the official audio not a music video.

"Surround You" by JAWS

Produced by Dreamtrak & Gavin Monaghan

Official video for "Think Too Much, Feel Too Little" by JAWS. Taken from the Debut Album "Be Slowly", out 15/09/14. Is simply performance based video.

"Toucan Surf" by JAWS

Produced by Dreamtrak

Simply an audio track

Friend like you. Simply an audio track

Official video for "Gold" by JAWS. Taken from the Debut Album "Be Slowly", out 15/09/14.

A performance style music video however this does include some scenery

Sadly, as JAWS are only a small band they have not got many music videos. Furthermore this makes it near impossible to find out who directed the videos so that is why I don't have any of that info available.


Discography

I have done some more in-depth audience research. With another short description of the band.

JAWS are a small indie band who operate in and around the dream pop genre, they became more popular around 2013 when there was a new wave of popular indie music. There audience tend be males around the age of 14-18, who in general are left leaning in political view. I could not find any real dater on JAWS as they are to small of a band. However by looking at a similar band who are seen as related artists on several websites I have devised a target audience.

Age
Best Coast are similar band to JAWS and they have a following which has a low average age. My source for this is https://yougov.co.uk/opi/browse/Best_Coast. Where we see the average age is around 14-18. Peace another similar band has a similar age meter with it slightly older than that of Best Coast, so I feel I would be correct in saying that JAWS would have a very similar audience or at least core audience. So feel 14 - 18 is an appropriate age range. However, of course there is a section of the indie genre who are above the age of 20, but of course this isn't as large a group as that of the core audience of age 14-18. That I would consider my secondary audience when it comes to the age demographic. However I do admit other figures on the you gov website as seen below that show that more people of the ages 25-39 like similar bands to JAWS, however as it is a much wider age range I decided to take into account the 18-24 year olds as compared to the rest of the population as a whole ,because 16% more people in of the age range of 18-24 like similar bands to JAWS compared to the 9% difference between population and people who are into the band. All of these statistics are sourced from the link above and are seen inn the screenshots below. So from this I plan to input more teenage themes in my music videos in order to make my core audience and secondry  audience

Gender

Through Looking at other bands I have found out that the majority of people who listen to JAWS or at least related artists are male, however only by a slim majority so in general there is a fair balance between gender. So this means I'm going to take this in mind during the process of making my video so I can have the video appeal to the widest audience possible. To do this I will ensure I use an actor that will appeal to the female population. Using the premise of  the male gaze that being that I use attractive male characters In order to attract and interest female viewers. Secondly, my video also has purely male characters in which will give the male audience something to relate to, furthermore I could also say by using the attractive male protagonist could be taking advantage of the gay gaze. Which is of course the use of attractive character in order to attract the opposite sex to watch the film.

General Beliefs

On the whole people who are into indie pop, indie rock and dream pop are in general left thinking progressives seen by yougov stats seen in the screenshots below for Best Coast. This is probably because their demographic is young, and stats show the younger you are the more left wing you are as youth gives you an idealistic view of the world. So from this I have decided to use the left leaning communist manifesto as a prop within my video. Furthermore I primarily am doing this in order to reference the communist movement that was taking place at the time of German expressionist movement, because I have taken such a string influence from such film makers like F.W.M.

Film and Television interests

The website yougov give you the ability to look at what somebodies TV likes may be if they like a particular band. Through this I again used the band Best Coast in order to identify the likes of the type of person who would listen to the band JAWS as they don't have a page on yougov as of the size of the band. From this recourse I found out that the people who like this genre of band tend to like the following films.

Which shows us overwhelmingly that the most popular genre is horror, which is why my production is going to be of this genre. As my narrative follows a very similar story to that of the famous film and story of Frankenstein. I feel this will ensure that I attract and engage the audience I'm aiming for.

In conclusion, the audience for the band JAWS tends to be of  either male or female of the age of 16-24. Who is in general left leaning in political ideology and into indie music and horror genre productions.

Genre Researh Evaluation (Indie and Rock Sub genres)

I have researched several music videos in the same genre as the song Bad Company by JAWS, these being: Best Friends by Palma Violets, Luv Hold Me by The Drowners, Charlemagne by Blossoms, Money by Peace and You're a Germ by Wolf Alice. I also did more in depth analysis of songs like change of heart which are loosely link to the band JAWS by genre.

The general genre of JAWS is indie rock, alternative rock and other sub genres. Much like the 5 music video analysis overviews I have written. I found that in the indie and rock sub genres we tend to see the following conventions.

• Black and white themed, meaning that we see the background colours to be in general dark and low key E.G You're a Germ.
• Some bright pastel colours, like yellows, geens and deep blues. For example the Blossoms, Charlemagne video where the walls in the foreground are deep blue seen below.
• Costume has no real convention, meaning that in indie music videos as a convention is wearing alternative forms of clothes unlike heavy metal bands who we see dressed in dark leather on the most part.  
• In general indie and alternative rock videos have a darker story line for example You're a Germ by Wolf Alice and the Bad Company video itself.
• Tend to have a retro feel or look. For example the grainy footage in Alvvays's video Adult Diversion and Luv Hold Me Down by The Drowners. What I mean by this is that the footage in fact looks like it was shot years before it was.
• Transitions tend to be clear cut.
• Tend to be a mixture of performance and narrative. So will cut from a story to pictures if the bands.

Genre Research (Drowners- Luv Hold me down)

The Drowners are a band who work within the indie rock genre similar to my band of choice. The music video for their song luv Hold Me Down fits this genre accurately, with the same old style footage I talk about and the same rock and roll alternative clothes. This video has a narrative of the band it’s self on tour going around the world in different places with the underlying tone that “Luv is holding them down” obviously in relation with the song lyrics, so you could go far to say that this aspect makes it unconventional. Another part of the video which is arguably unconventional of this genre is the bright colours that exist due to the more summer landscape narrative in the video. So we obviously don’t see the typical black and white. However it could be argued that this song is the furthest away genre wise from my song choice of bad company by JAWS which is almost in the genre of alternative hard rock, due to the uneasy atmosphere and almost metal like instruments of the heavy guitar.

Genre Research (Blossoms- Charlemagne)

Blossoms are a band which work mainly in the indie genre Charlemagne is typical of the indie music video genre as we see pastel colours which contrast highly with the costumes that people are wearing, This gives the effect that it’s based in another time frame, however even though it’s in another time frame it comes across that the people within it act as if they are living in the past as well. Furthermore at the start of the video we see it start off as quite dark in tone which is again typical of this genre as unlike pop genre who would us very bright colours to get the story across. There is no clear narrative, however we do see men gambling and have lyrics which relate to love. So I guess we see a story of a man who has lost his lover as a result of gambling addiction she doesn’t understand. There is no significant link between the lyrics and visuals apart from we see the focus change between the man and the women depending on who is being addressed.

Genre Research (Peace- Money)

Peace are a band that specialize in the  indie rock genre, which of course related to the band JAWS which as I have mentioned previously to be my band of choice. The video for their song money is not black and white or anything like that, however their colours are dark. Being Greys warm whites and navy blues to signify the pinstripe background in which it is set. Which is the same colour scheme I’m aiming for however I wish to incorporate warm yellows to give off an unnerving vibe. There is a narrative in this video, that following the story of a business man going through the ranks of big business slowly reaching the top, to get there to end up being there in a room of “snakes”. We see how big business is represented as it is shown to be all song and dance. Shown by the dance handshakes that take place. In general we see similar things in this video to that of other videos in there genre however of course it’s the indie genre so it’s of course they have totally different story lines.

Genre Research (Wolf Alice- You're a germ)

Wolf Alice- You’re a Germ


Wolf Alice are a band who work within the alternative rock genre, the song you’re a germ is also in this genre which of course is what my song Bad Company is in. In this video we see footage similar to what I wish to achieve within my video. This being that it is in a 60’s cinefilm style, which gives it a weathered look which is associated with songs in the indie genre. Evidence of this is in Alvvays’s song Adult Division which shares the same genre. The narrative is a group of friends keep reliving the same point in their life where new monsters each time hunt them to the point of death. Which is horror style which is the image I want to go for my video. On the whole the colours are reflective of the indie genre as we see pastel colours mixed with what is an almost black and white theme. The lyrics do have a relationship with the visuals as seen when you here the lyrics “1 2 3 4 5 6 7” and at 7 we see the monster strike also when there is a heavy beat we see a significant point in the storyline.

Genre Research (Best Friends, Palma Violets Music Video Overview)

My song is Bad Company by JAWS, JAWS are a band which explore many genres these being Dream pop, indie pop, alternative rock, surf pop and synthpop. Similar artists are Palma Violets, Peace, Wolf Alice, Blossoms and the Drowners. 

In this Blog I will talk about Best Friends by Palma Violets. The Palma Violets are a indie rock band which means they are seen as a similar band to JAWS. As JAWS have in the past made indie rock songs especially like bad company the song I'm using. The Best Friends music video which was filmed and directed by Jim Tobias, and edited by Alastair Graham and Neil Drummond. The Video is of the band performing in a party atmosphere with a strobe light of warm colours with the typical indie colour scheme of darker colours giving it a black and white effect. Showcasing what their gigs would be like. There are no links with visuals. Apart from the obvious theme of friends being at the gigs. This video is typical to other videos in the alternative rock genre as we see the dark theme with the performance. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poFXWUTEs1k