Audience research:analysis

Although the majority of my focus group is mostly female, there was also a significant number of male recipients, meaning that our video needs to be gender neutral in order to appeal to a wider audience. This is conventional of indie artists as they often appeal to both genders, compared to pop which has a more commonly female audience.

The vast majority of the focus group was aged between 16-19. This helps me whilst planning our production as we need to make sure that our content appeals directly to this age range. This could be done through things such as the talent used in our music video being of similar age in order to appeal and be more relatable for the audience.

Although this does not help us directly in regards to planning our music video, this tells us that social media is paramount to our audience in the consumption of content. This means it can help us in terms of creating our advert, as we can include social media links as well as possibly featuring online content on our digi-pack. This not only appeals to our focus group, but also provides a wider variety of entry points for our products.

I decided to ask my focus group if they had a favourite music video. Although the responses are varied, I can research these artists and videos in order to identify similarities and differences and successful conventions that I can transfer into my video. Despite the fact that the responses feature artists of different genres, it is still helpful to research as there may be conventions that could be applicable to an indie music video.

The responses from this are extremely helpful as the vast majority of the focus group look for a storyline in music videos. This means that in order to appeal to the majority of our target audience, we need to come up with a storyline that is clear and easy to follow.

This also shows us a clear majority in that the focus group would prefer a music video that was more realistic rather than surreal. This means that we need to apply everyday situations to the storyline in order for it to feel realistic, as well as relatable as it will enable the audience to connect to it. We also need to ensure that the narrative is not cheesy as that could lead to the video feeling unrealistic and fake.

I decided to ask my focus group this question as my analysis of existing music videos of the genre found that some music videos incorporated diegetic sound from the action of the music video, as well as the non-diegetic sound (the song) added in post production. The vast majority of answers prefer the video to contain the song only. However, to enhance the finish of the video, we will edit shots to mirror the songs rhythm in order for the video to flow.

I asked this question after my research found that some videos have filters of colour or colour effects added which enhance the mood of the video. The majority preferred neutral colours however the result is quite varied. Giving us some freedom on this topic. However, the bright neon colours are more commonly associated with dance videos so the focus will be more neutral with slight filters if we think it will enhance the mood of the song/narrative. Neutral colours link to the previous question as they will appear more realistic.

In hindsight, in order to collect the most useful research I should have used a multiple choice question as some of the responses are not useful. After collecting the names of popular indie artists (Bastille, Foals, Catfish and the Bottlemen, The Libertines, Mumford and Sons and Arctic monkeys), we researched them and looked at songs we were inspired by. We decided to go with the Libertines and they conjured up the most inspiration for us and the songs we liked the best.