Target Audience Research - Vox Pop

Target Audience Research - Vox Pops

Vox pops are an informal way of interviewing an open audience and questioning them on simple questions you would ask in a survey. So as a group we went around asking members of the public, general questions about what their favourite type of music is and about the types of music videos they have an interest in. We used this as part of our research as we thought it would be very helpful asking our target audiences what they would enjoy watching in a music video. Therefore when it comes to recreating our music video we will know what to include to make it enjoyable for our target audience to watch. We questioned both males and females as it gave us a more varied response on what females enjoy in a music video and what males enjoy watching in a music video.

Below is the link to our Vox Pop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34rFsA5L64g

Target Audience Research - Pie Charts

Target Audience Research - Pie Charts

 

After questioning 40 different people about the types of genre and music they enjoy listening to and the music videos they find entertaining to watch, it helped us decide what type of music video we would like to create to engage our target audience and make it a video they find entertaining to watch. Below are pie charts that we have created with the results of the questionnaire we received.

 

 



 

The results we received will help us a lot when creating our music video as we now have a lot on information on what to include and what not include, specifically to suit our target audience and what they will like too see within a music video. The pie charts just set out the results from the questionnaires much clearer for us to see the results. As a group it has helped us a lot when planning our music video as it has given us a clearer understanding of what our target audience would enjoy seeing in a music video. So if we base our music video around the results we received, I believe that our music video will be extremely sucessful. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Target Audience Research - Questionnair

Target Audience Research - Questionnaire

 

Questionnaires are an effective ways of getting information from a target audiences about what type of music they like listening to and what they enjoy watching in a music video. This information is helpful to us because it will be a guidance to creating a music video that our target audience will thoroughly enjoy. There are two types of questions in a questionnaire which are open and closed questions. Open questions are usually used to gather qualitative data which allows the audience to answer with anything they want where as closed questions are used to gather quantitative data which only give the audience an option to choose one answer from the limited 5 choices offered. As a group we created this questionnaire using both open and closed types of questions and asked 40 different people the questions below.

 

1)What is your gender?

:- Male 

:- Female

2)How old are you?

:- 14-16
:- 17-19
:- 20-22
:- 23-25
:- 26+

3)What music genre do you prefer?

:- Pop
:- R&B
:- Indie
:- Rock

:- Other

4)On average how many music videos do you watch a week?

:- None

:- 1-5
:- 6-10
:- 11-15
:- 16-20
:- 21-25
:- 26+

5)What aspects of music videos do you find most effective?

:- Performance

:- Narrative
:- Concept

6)Do you prefer music videos that are conventional or diverse?

:- Conventional

:- Diverse

7)Have you heard of James Arthur?

:- Yes

:- No

8)If yes, what is your favourite single?      

:- _________________________
 

9)What editing style do you prefer?

:- Fast paced editing

:- Slow paced editing
:- Colour tints
:- Green screen

10)Do you like music videos that feature a motif (any recurring element in a story that has symbolic significance)?

:- Yes
:- No

 

Analysis

As a group we separated and asked about 40 different people these questions of different age groups so we could get a wide range of answers from different types of people. This investigation also helped our group realise which age group preferred to listen to James Arthur more which then allows us to focus our recreation of a music video on what our target audience would want to listen to.

Group Planning

Initial Planning Ideas

My A2 media group consists of Jamie, Jagoda, Lauren and myself. As me and Lauren worked together last year in our AS media project of creating a thriller opening we found that we worked very well together, so therefore decided that working together this year as well would be a good idea. We then decided to pair up with Jamie and Jagoda as all 4 of us had the same idea of what sort of music video we wanted to re-create
Jagoda is the creative one within the group, so this will be beneficial as when we create our narrative for our music video, she will come up with good ideas to make our music video very interesting. Jamie has very good editing skills, so when it comes to editing the music video after we have filmed it, with Jamie's help at editing, our music video will come together nicely. Lauren has good organising skills, so this would be beneficial seeing as she will be the one keeping all our group paperwork safe and also she will be good when it comes to organising group meetings. In the group I will be the one that's good with the filming so therefore when it comes to filming our music video ill know what camera shots will be useful to use at what parts.

Research for video inspiration

I wont let go - James blunt  

This music video consist of both performance and narrative within it. We used this as an inspiration for our music video seeing as the story line was the same as ours, which is about a couple splitting up. So this allowed us to see how they created the video to get the message across. Also it shows the couple in two separate locations whilst they are showing the performance at the same time so this helped us get ideas for our music video as well. Another reason we used this as an inspiration is because of the effective camera shots they use. An example of this is the close up shots used in this music video to show the facial expressions of both male and female.

Summertime - Lana Del Rey

This music video consists of Lana Del Rey in the narrative and performance bit of this music video. This is one of the things we would like to use in our music video, which is the artist in both performance and narrative bit of the video, so this helped us get ideas. Also within this music video it shows the artist standing on top of a cliff  about to jump of, and the exciting landscape shown which grabs the audiences attention was also one of the conventions we wanted to use within our music video. After watching this music video it helped us decide that we will be using the jumping off cliff scene within our music video too.

Mise - En - Scene

Settings

We will be using many settings within this music video to keep the audience intrigued as using the same setting throughout comes across as very boring.
One of the settings we will be using most often throughout this music video is a cliff top. This will be significant because it will be used to symbolise the death of the girl and would also show how she is 'high up in heaven'. Not only will it show a sense of freedom but its also a beautiful background which will look good in our music video.

Another setting we will be using is a homely environment. This will contain of a living room as one of the settings where the couple will be playing a game of cards, which is also part of the iconography we will be using. This is significant to our music video as it gives a better impression of the couple and how laid back their relationship was.

The other setting we will be using within the homely settings is a bedroom. This will be used because it gives us the chance to dress the girl up really casually so we could show of her body as well. Also a bedroom is a very conventional setting to use within a music video about a couple seeing as the bedroom signifies couple behaviour.

Iconography

The main iconography we will be using is a pack of cards. This will be used to show how the couple are actually playing a love game with each others mind and it is also a representation of their relationship. We will be showing this through the use of the king and queen of hearts as the king and queen will be symbolising the couple and the hearts will be symbolising their love.
Another iconography we will be using is a guitar. This will be used to show the audience that it is a pop song as usually a guitar is one of the conventions of a pop song. Also it gives the artist something to do whilst he is getting filmed.

The fire will be used to burn the cards which will symbolise the 'burning' of their relationship. So it will define danger, pain and anger as they are the 3 main emotions couple feel when they are breaking up .

Costume

As we are creating a pop music video the clothing will be very casual as this is conventional to the pop music genre. This will consist of the artist wearing something as causal as jeans and a shit.
Where as on the other hand the girl will be changing into different outfits throughout the music video and the different locations they will be in. Her costumes will consist of causal clothes, such as a baggy jumper and leggings or even a dress. 

Lighting

Throughout our whole music video we will be using mostly high  key lighting. This is because majority of our video will be filmed indoors and the part of it that will be filmed outside on the cliff top will be in broad daylight. Low key lighting will only be used to show the performance part of our music video. This will be when the artist is playing the guitar and singing. Low key lighting will be used to keep the artists identity slightly closed up and also because he is singing about love and how its impossible, the dark and dull atmosphere would help the audience realise how he is feeling. 

  

Positioning

The artist will be places in the centre of the screen during the performance part of this music video. This will be to emphasise all attention on the artist at that particular moment in the music video. During the narrative aspect of this music video the couple will be centre of the frame at all time.

Editing

When editing our music video, one of the editing techniques we were planning to use is a slow pace whenever they show the female character which will be the narrative aspect of our video. This is because it will allow the audience to concentrate more on the narrative/story line than the performance part of it. Its also a great way to show the emotions within this music video of the 'couple'.

Another editing technique we are going to use is fade, so between most individual scenes they will fade in to each other. This would be good seeing as it will emphasise the relationship between the artists and his 'partner'

 

Cinematography

One of the camera shots we will be using the most throughout this music video will be close up shots of both the artist and the girl so it can allow the audience to build a relationship with them. Also it helps the audience emphasise on their facial expressions more so therefore the audience will be able to relate more to the video.

Another camera shot we will be using is a panning shot at the beginning of our music video showing the artist as it is conventional to the pop genre and also it will show him playing the guitar which we feel is a vital aspect within the performance part of our vide

Music video theory

Goodwin's Theory - This theory will be shown within our music video to show the relationship between the visual and lyrics. As the song we are recreating is a pop song, we will be using conventions of a pop music video to put within our recreation of our music video. We will be doing this through using performance and narrative.

Group meetings 

This snapshot below is one of the storyboards we completed in our group meeting. It contains the information about what will be happening in the first part of our music video.



Research into music genres

How do music videos appeal to an audience?

A music video is usually an extremely important way to create a connection between the artist and its target audience. It also helps the audience understand the narrative behind the song and what the true meaning of the song is seeing as visuals could relate to the lyrics. Each different music genres consist of different music videos relating to the artist. An example of this could be how rap artists music videos usually consist of sexy women, money, cars and jewelry. Whereas a dance music video usually has a loud music and upbeat dancers.

How do the technical elements vary in the different music videos?

How do music videos appeal to an audience

How can the audience build a relationship with the artist?

What ideas or inspirations can you use for your music video and why

Drake - Over

The room Drake is sitting in right at the beginning of the song is empty which gives the audience the impression that the video is simple and boring. However it turns out to be extremely interesting seeing as there are projections on the walls around him which relate to his song and lyrics. This show's Goodwin's theory.
He is targeting both male and female audience within the age group of 15-25 and is singing about how he became famous so quickly.

Camera

Roughly a few seconds in to the music video one of the camera shots used is a Low Angle of drake sitting on his bed rapping whilst at the same time there is a projection of a road on the walls. This shows that he is becoming bigger as he is on the 'Road to success'

Another camera shot used many times in this music video is close ups of Drakes face. This is because as Drake was a new artist when he released this first song, so he wanted the audience to recognize him and the close ups of drakes face allowed the audience to build relationship with him straight away as the it was one of the first camera shots used.

Editing;

One of the editing techniques used was a Time Lapse which is when drake was going at a normal pace as the projection of people next to him was increasing at a faster pace. This is interesting because his lyrics relate what was going on in the music video for example "I know way too many people here right now that I didn't know last year" this is where it relates to Goodwin's theory. This editing technique could symbolise how he is getting bigger and more recognized by people.

Another editing technique used is special effects. One of the special effects used is when drake is standing in a dark room and his shadows behind him are increasing in size. This could symbolise how he started low down and he his making himself bigger as it is shown on the wall that he is getting bigger.

Flo Rida - Club cant handle me

The narrative of this music video consists of flo Rida trying to show off/boast about all the money and popularity he has now that he is famous. The music video is set in a club showing flo Rida surrounded by many people that practically worship him. This is shown by the levels  used within the club.

Camera;

One of the camera shots used was a low angle in the club when Flo Rida is standing on a higher level than everyone else there. This could be because he trying to emphasize the fact that he is now very powerful because he is famous and rich. This shows a lot of arrogance.

Another camera shot that was used right at the beginning was a close up of the two Lamborghini cars. This is also shown to emphasize the fact that he is now rich and he is trying to show that he is turning up in one of the most expensive cars.

Editing;

One of the editing techniques used was a fade of each individual scene at the beginning fading into each other. The scenes consisted of clips of Flo Rida coming out of his Lamborghini, throwing the money around and entering the club. This shows his success and how proud he feels of his achievements.

Another editing technique used was a split screen of the club and a deserted street. This could of possibly been used to symbolise how he felt before he became famous (Lonely, deserted) and how he feels now that he has many fans, is famous and well know.

Justin Timberlake - Cry me a river

This music video consists of Justin Timberland  singing about how his girlfriend had cheated on him and now he wants her to 'Cry him a river' while he gets his revenge.

Camera;

This is one of the first camera shots used in this music video. It is a close up shot of a swimming pool which can be used to symbolise the water of his ex girlfriend 'Crying him a river' and also this shows the rain which is pathetic fallacy which shows that something bad was going on so it was raining.

Another camera shot which was used many times was close ups of Justin Timberland's face seeing as he was a new artist when he released this song so he was trying to make him self become recognized and well known. This also allowed the audience to build a relationship with the artist.

Editing ;

One of the editing styles used within this music video is slow motion. This is when the action that is going on in a frame is slowed down and this editing effect has been added when the raindrops fall on the car. This editing could be used to symbolise the tears he cried over her and possibly the tears he is trying to make her cry.

Research and analysis of a star, Dyers theory

Richard Dyers Theory

·    Richard Dyers star theory is the idea that music artists and celebrities are constructed by different institutions for financial reasons and are built to target a certain audiences or a different group of people.

·    He gives of the impression that :-
 - Stars are an image not a person
 - Stars are a product
 - Stars are constructed out of materials such as advertising and magazines.

Dyers theory can be broken down in to 3 segments which are audiences and Institutions, Construction and Hegemony (Cultural Beliefs)

Audiences and Institutions

o    Stars are used for no other reason but to make money

o    The Institutions then advertise the stars images around their target audience, for example advertising Rihanna in magazines to attract a target audience of teenagers.

Constructions

o    The star is a fake person built solidly for the audiences entertainment not as an actual person

o    A star is built specifically by someone that wishes to differentiates them from other starts

Hegemony

o    Some people may try to copy what they like about the stars however this can be negative as even though starts are seen as role models, in music videos there is usually use of drugs and alcohol which negatively influences Youngers.

Applying Dyers Theory

Rihanna is a Barbadian recording artist that started off her singing career in 2005 at the age of 17. She released her first album 'Music of the sun' which consisted of her song 'Pon de replay'. This was the lead single from her album. Although she is in a night club and is wearing a silver  belly top with baggy jeans, she still comes across as an innocent young woman.

Pon De Replay

This was one of Rihanna's first song that she released in 2005. By watching the music video its easy to notice that she portrays the image of a sweet, innocent young lady that just wants to have a good night out with her friends. The video is performance due as she is informing the DJ to 'turn the music up' and at the same time telling everyone else how to dance. This is shown in her lyrics when she said 'It goes one by one even two by two everybody in the club let me show you how we do it' and then she goes on to explaining how to 'Dip it down low and bring it up slow'  however she doesn't do any dirty dancing within the video and her innocence remained.

Rihanna's appearance throughout the video is just as innocent as she is wearing baggy jeans and a gold sequenced belly top. Also in another scene she is wearing a denim dress with her hair in two pony tails which also sets off an innocent look as well a stereotypical representation of a young girl. Throughout this music video there are many close ups of Rihanna as it was one of her first ever music videos and the record label wanted the audience to gain recognition of this singer. Therefore the close ups put much emphasis on her face so she became well known.

However, in 2007 soon after the fame and popularity had gotten to her head Rihanna had 
completely changed her image to continue gaining popularity and that when she released her third album 'Good girl gone bad'. This album consisted of her songs 'Umbrella' and 'Shut up and drive' which allowed the audience to see the dramatic change in her nature from innocent to provocative. These songs consisted of many references to; love, sex and being 'possessed by the devil'. It comes across as though Rihanna knew how much her popularity and fame had grown, so she felt as though she could completely change her image and attitude and still maintain a high amount of popularity.

Shut up and drive

This song was one of the 5th singles from her album good girl gone bad. Her innocent appearance had suddenly transformed to provocative and allowed the audience to see the development in her confidence and attitude towards her career. You could see the difference in her appearance when she appears in this music video with her hair cut extremely short and the numerous revealing outfits she was changing into throughout. An example of this is when she has her hair  in two ponytails in her music video of  'Pon de floor' which shows her innocence where as in her music video 'Shut up and drive' her hair is cut into a bob which adds to the more 'Rude girl' look. Another example could be her outfits in 'Pon de floor' when she is wearing a denim dress she comes across as a naive young girl where as on the other hand in 'shut up and drive' she wears outfits like shorts and cut tops. 

Also her song 'Pon De Floor' comes under the music genre of more Dance-pop where as her song 'Shut up and drive' comes under the music genre of Pop-rock. However; her song 'Shut up and drive' has a narrative behind it which is her talking about sex. Throughout the whole song she is talking about how her "engine's ready to explode, explode, explode, So start me up and watch me go, go, go, go" which means she is waiting for some one to come along and give her that 'sexual pleasure'. Her attitude in this music video shows how she has transforms in to that 'bad girl' as she is creating songs about intercourse which sets of a bad example to the young teenagers that look up to her. 

The advantage of her change for Rihanna is that she will be receiving a lot more male attention as they found her very attractive.

It comes across that this music video also applies to Goodwin's Theory as the lyrics and visuals relate. For example the lyrics are talking about a car, the engine and about a guy driving; so throughout the song it consists of her trying to fix a car and towards the end it shows two guys racing in the cars. Which could symbolise two guys competing over her as her song is about what guy could 'handle her'

Pour it up

This is one of the most recent songs and music video that Rihanna has created which was released in 2013. It shows the dramatic change within her personality and appearance as she has now become extremely provocative. Her music videos now consist of her dancing inappropriately and contains some nudity. Reflecting back on her old music videos that I have analysed above, you can clearly see how she has changed. As Rihanna's music videos are now very inappropriate, it comes across that her videos can't be shown on TV before 9pm.

The costume she is wearing at first consist of her wearing a big furry coat, very big heels and red underwear. The red could symbolise love and provocative behavior. The amount of clothing she is wearing is extremely limited which gives of the impression that she is going 'off the rails' as the fame and popularity has gotten to her head. This backs up Dyers theory as it proves that fame and popularity creates a fake person.

Within this song, Rihanna seems to be singing about going clubbing and drinking. This is shown through her lyrics which are "Strip club and dollar bills, I still got my money, Patron shots can I get a refill, I still got my money". She is giving of the impression that at clubs she "flashes her cash" and yet again she still has plenty of money left. This is a negative impact on her audience as it gives of the impression that she feels like its a good thing to spend lots of money when going clubbing. 
Throughout the song she tends to speak a lot about money and how her money never runs out. This could be her telling everyone around her about how she feels like she has lots of money to spend as she is famous which gives the audience an impression that is has become very arrogant.

Dyers Star Theory

Richard Dyers theory relates to Rihanna as it is clear that Rihanna has changed over the years to gain popularity, fame and to compete with all other artists. Therefore this backs up Dyers point that Artists are not who they portray themselves they are fake images just to engage more of an audience, to gain popularity so that could leads to them making more money. This has been shown and backed up with my analysis Rihanna's three most famous songs which shows a drastic change in her behavior and her lifestyle. It has been a negative change and she is no longer seen as naive and innocent but provocative and arrogant.



Research into music channels and target audience

Music channels

Objective

To be able to show an understanding of how music channels appeal to an audience

1)  Who is the target audience and why?

2)  What type of music does the channel play and why?

3)  Identify 3-5 examples of artists that feature on a regular basis?

4)  How is the channel used as a form of branding?

5)  How does the logo appeal to the target audience?

1)   MTV music channel is targeted at young youths aged 12-24 years old. This is because MTV play all the modern songs that are in the chats and songs sung by famous artist that teenagers look up too, for example Rihanna.

2)  MTV plays different types of music from different genres like Pop, RnB, Garage and hip-hop. However MTV concentrate more on playing new songs released and familiar artists as they show this type of music for their target audience’s entertainment. 

3) MTV’s artists played on a regular basis at the moment is  Bruno Mars, Rihanna, One Direction, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift as these are the most popular artists at the moment.    

4) Although MTV is recognised as a music channel, it also features many TV shows. Examples of this may consist of Teen mom,

5) The MTV logo is very simple and plain but it’s made in a clever way as it really stands out to the audience and their sign is very unique so it’s very well-known and easily noticed.

1) VH1 music channel targets an audience between 25 to 44 year olds seeing as they aim to be mature, sophisticated and stylish. The music played by VH1 is music that the older generations use to listen to when they were younger so it’s something they have an interest in.

2) VH1 music channel plays a variety of different music from many different genres. They also have TV shows of specific music genres for their target audience an example of this is the 'Top 100 singles in the 80's' which would be targeted at adults. This comes across as a good marketing technique as many adults may not enjoy the music VH1 plays, however when that  particular programme comes on it will attract them as they wouldn't mind listening to music from when they were younger.

3) Many artists feature on VH1 music channel on a regular basis. However they usually focus on artists from the 80's as they target an older audience

4) VH1 is a subsidiary of MTV, therefore it is branded through MTV which comes across as a positive thing as MTV is one of the biggest most popular music channel so when they advertise and brand VH1 all MTV audience would tune into VH1 which increases popularity.

5) The VH1 logo appeals to the target audience as it is very bold and the bright colours really grab their attention. The colour difference reflects basic colours from the 80s which suits the adult target audience.

1) Box target audience is 14-20 years old as it consists of all the latest music in the charts that teenagers and young adults prefer to listen to. Also teenagers and young adults usually take more of an interest in recent music.

2) Box currently plays music from many different types of genres, those consisting of genres like
Pop, R&B and Indie seeing as this is what interests teenagers and young adults

3) The top 5 artists played by box are Macklemore, Bruno Mars, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and Taylor swift seeing as they are the top 5 artists in the charts at the moment.

4) Box music channel is also another example of a subsidiary of MTV and also 4Music. This is so it can be promoted and advertised through these other popular music channels, this way they will achieve a greater target audience.

5) The Box music logo appeals to an audience because the writing is shaped in a form of a box which makes it an interesting logo and the colour adds to the audiences attention because its not plain black, white and boring.

1) The target audience for kiss music channel is 15-34 year olds. This is because Kiss is one of the biggest radio stations in the UK and they play music from the recent charts and also music from the 90s that would interest the older target audience.

2) Kiss play a variety of music genres at different set times. Some of the music genres they play consist of Grime, R&B, Garage, Hip hop, Urban and pop.

3) The top artists played on kiss consist of Rihanna, Jay Z, DJ Fresh, David Guetta and Beyoncé. This is because these artists are the ones that interest the targeted audience as they are the most popular artists at the moment.

4) Kiss is used as a form of branding through promoting it self as it has no subsidiaries.

5) The logo appeals to the audience as it is blue and the colour blue represents calmness and young youths. Also the logo stands out as its very simple but interesting.

1) The target audience for Scuzz music channel is 16-30 year olds. It is a niche market seeing as it only specialises in a certain genre of music which is Rock. So only teenagers/young adults interested in rock music listen to it. Therefore it isn't popular but it has a devoted audience. 

2) Scuzz music channel only plays one genre of music which is heavy rock.

3) The top artists played on Scuzz are Enter Shaikari, muse, Green day and many more rock bands.

4) It is used as a form of branding through its 'Sister channels' which consist of Flava, vault and tiny pop.

5) The logo appeals to the audience because it is silver and connotes the heavy metal genre. It also consists of the sharp pointy bits which Audience that like rock music would find appealing.

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