Demographics
By identifying the target audience, which is vital before
creating a music video as all the elements associated with a music video
including the artist, characters, themes, settings, mise en scene etc are all
related to the target audience. Therefore, we identified our target audience
through a questionnaire, allowing us to find out all the important information
about them. Once we discovered everything we needed to know about them we made
decisions regarding our music video. This is the key areas and requirements we
identified:
- Genre: The genre of my song is Alternative/Jazz, as we chose to use the song 'Syrup & Honey' by Duffy.
- Gender: My music video is targeted at both males and females, though it can be perceived as targeting females more due to them being able to relate to the narrative more effectively than males.
- Age: My music video is targeted at individuals aged 18-30 years old.
- Ethnicity: My video is targeted at all ethnic groups to appeal a larger audience.
- Occupation: E1-C2- The music video involves normal, working class artists, and the locations consist of lower/working class areas, which is appealing and relatable to audiences with from an E1-C2 occupation.
- Hobbies and interests: There are no specific hobbies or interests that our audience are expected to have as the music video draws upon various themes. However, our target audience may be interested in particular hobbies and interests such as music, travelling, arts, etc.
Questionnaire and
graphs
During the initial planning stages I carried out a
questionnaire in order to receive feedback about my upcoming music video,
identifying who my target audience was, what they liked to see and expected
from a music video. This primary research enabled me to gain audience feedback and identify that the Alternative/Jazz genre was a popular choice, encouraging me to choose this as my genre.
As a result, I completed the final questionnaire and received feedback,
creating graphs to express my results. From this, I was able to make clear
decisions about my narrative, characters, mise en scene, cinematography etc,
allowing me to create a music video that was targeted at the correct audience
and was suitable for them, meeting their expectations.
Here is the questionnaire created, 20 people in total were asked to participate, consisting a variety of closed, open and multiple choice questions.
Here is the questionnaire created, 20 people in total were asked to participate, consisting a variety of closed, open and multiple choice questions.
The key questions we asked and the feedback we received that
were vital in influencing our future decisions included:
From the evidence, we identified that the majority of the
people contributing to our questionnaire wanted to see the theme of morality. As a result, we were
able to include the theme of morality as well as loneliness, addiction and self-disruption that were more
likely to appeal to an older audience and music genre.
Most of the audience agreed that lip syncing was not necessary in the music video, therefore we decided that the music video will focus on the narrative with little lip sync from the main artist to appeal and reach wider audience.
A majority of the audience agreed that the music video should pass a message, so my peer and I decided to place a quote from the main artist struggling with her addiction at the end of video, to leave the audience thinking and create a relationship were the viewers can relate with the character and make the music video successful.
Most of the target audience agreed to both, a non-traditional narrative and traditional narrative within the Alternative/Jazz genre. Therefore, in order to make the music video successful we included both traditional and non-traditional narrative in our music video.
How did this help you
make decisions?
The questions we asked and the feedback we received about
our upcoming music video helped us because we identified what the audience
wanted and expected from the music video, allowing us to make key decisions
based on these factors. For example, after finding out that the audience were
more interested in seeing themes such as morality and passing a message within
the music video we made sure that we follow these advices, so when it came to
filming we filmed the artist bearing this in mind. Without the creation of a
questionnaire, we would not have had any feedback to draw upon which may have
put my group and me at a disadvantage, as we would have had little knowledge
about our target audience, and what they liked/ expected to see in an Alternative/Jazz
music video. Therefore, the use of research has been extremely helpful in
allowing us to carry out our decisions, as we continuously referred to our
graphs to help us finalise our storyboard which contained everything about the
shooting of each scene.
What is the
importance of receiving critical feedback once the production has been made?
Once a production is finalised, it is important to get your
target audience to view your product and give feedback to help you make small
changes helping to finalise the product, making it as successful and appealing
as possible. After identified that it was vital to receive critical feedback on
our completed production, we held a focus group, inviting AS and A2 film and
media students to watch our production and view our ancillary products, allowing
them to provide us with feedback, consisting of positives and negatives. From
this, we were able to make small changes to our production based on the
feedback we received, making it more effective and successful.
Focus group pictures:
SoundCloud Feeback:
Why did you put your work on Facebook and Instagram?
I put my work on Facebook as I wanted to share my work with
my family and friends on a global scale in order to get their opinions about my
production. I figured that Facebook was the most suitable social networking
site to share it on as many people use it for educational purposes as well as
social purposes, also allowing them to like, comment and share my video. This
would ensure that audiences from various age groups, including my target
audience aged 18-30 would view my video and give me truthful feedback. This was
successful as I received a large amount of likes and comments, allowing me to
see what was good about the video and what needed to be improved.
I also posted my video on Instagram, allowing my followers
to view, like and comment on my video. It was important for me to share my
music video on various social networking sites as it encouraged my video to be
viewed by a global audience, making my video globally identified and
successful, as well as allowing my artist to be recognised by a larger
audience, increasing her fame and success.
Some general comments I received on Facebook and Instagram:
Positives:
- " I like the
use of a distinctive narrative rather than a cliche one, it creates adrenaline
for the audience as they do not know what to expect."
- " The editing techniques used in the music video are
unique and effective for the narrative and creates excitement for the
audience."
- " The message at the end of the music video is
powerful and universal, meaning that anyone can relate to it.
Negatives:
- " The narrative can be unclear sometimes."
- "The shots of the female artist can be repetitive at
times."
- " The lighting used at the beginning of the music
video is dark preventing the audience to fully see that artist 's face. "
What did you learn from this audience feedback in terms of
whether you created a conventional and successful music video?
I learnt that a majority of the audience, including my
target audience and even those from other age categories liked my music video,
giving me positive feedback. From this, I learnt that my music video was
conventional as it was positively received by a mass audience, which may have
been different if my music video was niche and only specifically targeted at a
niche audience or specific subcultures identified by Hebdige. Also, despite the
few negative comments I received including the representation of the characters
and the cinematography, I was able to take this criticism on board making small
amendments to my video to help overcome these issues. Moreover, these
criticisms are also useful as they could help me in the future if I was to
create this music video again.
Conclusion:
To conclude, I promoted my music video on various media
platforms, including; Facebook, Instagram and Youtube as they are all globally
accessible and therefore fit for our purpose, which included presenting our
music video to a wider audience, allowing it to receive popularity as well as
feedback to improve the video, maximising its success. This task was beneficial
as it gave me an insight on what people wanted to see and how to improve my
music video even better. The overall feedback I received was positive, although
we did receive some fair criticism, allowing room for improvement. Those who
provided us with criticism encouraged us to see where we went wrong and how we
could improve. It also set an audience that we wanted to target, therefore
addressing and attracting the spectators. By starting my research from my
questionnaire, I believe that my peer and I made massive progress on attracting
our audience around our music video.
