Focus Group

For our primary research we are going to be making a focus group with 6-8 people from the target audience that we would like our final music video to appeal to. In our focus group we will ask a questions on a variety of topics regarding audience and the style of music video that they would like to see.

However we did face some difficulties as  our focus group was slightly larger than expected and only a select few members of those involved actually participated in the discussion, therefore we did not receive the broadest range of answers since as expected some participants were more actively involved in the answering of questions than others. 

Upon viewing the resultant footage of our focus group video we are able to find that our audience would prefer if our final music video was to be ambiguous and have an open ended narrative as those who we interviewed said that they would like to explore their own different interpretations of the video as they would feel like they could engage with the video and its narrative more as it feels more personal if they can apply their own perspective to it. 

Those who we interviewed in our focus group also agreed that the use of black and white will add ambience to the video as they feel that it would make the video clearer as they will be able to distinguish which scenes are set in the past or present depending on whether they are in black and white or colour. This then relates to Barthes semantic code as the audience would have associated black and white with the past as music videos, when they first started to become popular would have been in black and white. 

The audience also felt that it would be important for the lyrics of the song to relate to the narrative of the music video as they feel the lyrics relating to the narrative would add to the meaning of the song and is more likely to have a lasting impact on the audience as they will have both the visual and aural meanings from the video that are cohesive. The focus group also stated that they would prefer a romance music video to be slow paced as it would reflect the relationship blossoming and the connection between the two people growing, which they would prefer the music video to focus on over the breakup of the relationship. 

Those who participated in our focus group listed some examples of props that they felt would symbolise romance these included

• Love Letters 
• Photos of the couple together
• Roses 
• Teddy Bears 
• Places the couple have been together 
• Text messages between the couple 

This then relates to Barthes semantic code as the audience associate these items with romance and therefore we will include these props within our final music video so that it will conform to what the target audience considers to be genre conventions of a romantic music video. 

Most of our audience expect to see lots of emotion within a romantic music video. Others mentioned the lyrics of the song being linked to emotion. Also, a storyline and happy ending was mentioned. Stereotypically, a romantic video would include two people falling in love and have a 'happily ever after'. However, in my groups video, we will include a storyline which shows a mixture of ups and downs within a relations and the emotions the characters are feeling shown, However we do would wish to subvert the stereotype of  a happy ending as the central theme of the song we have chosen for our music video is heartbreak.

Finally, the members of our focus group felt that the features of a music video that would render it to be good are a focus on emotion and the relationship growing between two people and if it was to be about a breakup to be about the happy times the couple had instead of it being about heartbreak. We also found that our audience are mainly female. This is very stereotypical as females tend to prefer romantic genres. In our music video, we will include young female characters within our video, which will help to sell our music video easier to the target audience. 

Textual Analysis Another Day in Paradise

Timed Analysis Fake Denim

0:00-0:03- There is a close up of a carpet with the title of the song across it and it zooms in on the carpet to an extreme close up.
0:03-0:04- There is then a close up of a young woman with a gold chain pressed up against her lips and playing with it.
0:04-0:05- There is then a mid shot of a rack of jeans.
0:05-0:06- There is then an extreme close up of the young woman's hands shuffling through money.
0:06-0:07- There is then a long shot of the young woman sat on a sofa.
0:07-0:08- There is then an extreme close up of the young woman's lips as she puts on lip stick.
0:09-0:11- There is then a mid shot of the young woman in a fur coat checking herself in the mirror, in front of a lemon print wallpaper.
0:11-0:20- There is then a close up of the artist in front of the rack of jeans. The camera zooms in and his face is covered by a cap but you can see him singing the lyrics.
0:20-0:26- There is then another mid shot of the artist sat down, directly addressing the audience and there are pancakes that are in front of him, with the one just off to the side of the camera being out of focus.
0:27-0:28- There is a close of the woman's reflection in the mirror that is slightly out of focus as she fixes her lipstick.
0:29-0:30- There is then an over the shoulder mid shot of the woman stood in the mirror putting more lipstick on.
0:31-0:33- The camera returns to the mid shot of the artist singing the lyrics in front of the jeans rack, looking off from the camera. Only this time you can see his face.
0:34-0:36- There is then a low angle shot, with the camera zooming out as the young woman fans herself with money.
0:36-0:38- There s then a close up of the pancakes on the artists plate as he pours maple syrup over them. His body and the surrounding pancakes are out of focus.
0:39-0:41- It then returns to the artist directly addressing the audience (as seen at 0:20-0:26).
0:41-0:44- There is then a mid shot of the young woman, looking directly at the camera, stood in front of a bookshelf whilst money flies around her.
0:45-0:46- The young woman can be seen leaning up against a wall with the fur jacket and glasses on looking off to the right.
0:47-0:48- It returns to the shot seen at 0:39-0:41.
0:49-0:51- There is then an extreme close up of the woman's lips rubbing the lipstick off her face.
0:52-0:54- The artist is sat on the sofa directly addressing the audience with the young woman next to him looking off to the left.
0:54-0:56- There is another mid close up shot of the young woman who is burning money in her hands.
0:57-0:58- There is a panning shot as the young woman lays out across the sofa.
0:59-1:01- Returns to the shot seen at 0:52-0:54.
1:02-1:04- There is then a mid shot zoom on the young woman as she looks expressionless off into the distance.
1:05-1:06- A long shot of the young woman showing her putting her hands on her hips.
1:07-1:08- There is a mid long shot of the young woman in the fur jacket directly addressing the audience as she takes off the glasses.
1:09-1:11- There is then a jump cut to a close up shot of the young woman in the same position pulling the glasses down just above her nose.
1:11-1:13- There is a mid shot of the artist directly addressing the audience stood in front of mustard bottles.
1:14-1:15- This is followed by another direct address by the artist only this time he is sat on the bed with the woman's arms wrapped around him.
1:16-1:18- Returns to shot seen at 1:11-1:13.
1:19-1:20- There is an extreme close up of the young woman's face from the side and the camera pans down to he lips where you can see a gold chain pressed against her lips.
1:21-1:23- Returns to shot seen at 1:11-1:13.
1:24-1:26- There is a mid shot of the young woman directly addressing the audience playing with the chain in her hands.
1:27-1:28- There is then mid close up shot of the young woman directly addressing the audience playing with the chain against her lips.
1:29-1:32- Returns to the shot seen at 1:11-1:13
1:33-1:34- There is a long shot of the young woman sat down in a chair as she rest her head in her hand looking disgusted.
1:35-1:37- Returns to shot seen at 1:14-1:15.
1:37-1:39- There is a close up of the young sat down looking off the left adjusting her glasses.
1:40-1:43- Returns to shot seen at 1:11-1:13.
1:43-1:45- It returns to the mid shot of the young woman burning the money but only this time the money is smoking not burning.
1:45-1:46- Returns to shot seen at 1:11-1:13.
1:47-1:50- There's an extreme close up of the artists shoulder as the woman's hand slides across his chest.
1:50-1:52- There is then a match on action as the hand slides off the screen it cuts to a mid shot of the artist sat on the bed as the woman's hands rub across his chest to his shoulder. The artist is looking off into the distance looking uncomfortable.
1:53-1:55- Returns to shot seen at 0:52-0:54.
1:56-1:57- There is a long shot of the two sat on the sofa the woman is still looking off to the left.
1:58-2:00- Returns to shot seen at 0:52-0:54.
2:00-2:03- There is a mid shot of the artist sat on the floor directly addressing the audience, whilst the woman is sat on the sofa in the background.
2:03-2:05- Returns to the close up shot of the young woman pressing the chain against her lips.
2:06-2:08- returns to the shot seen at 1:11-1:13.
2:08-2:10- There is a mid a shot of the young woman sat in a chair that is facing off to the left but she is looking at the camera and lifting the glasses off her face.
2:11-2:12- An extreme close up of the woman playing with the chain between her fingers can be seen.
2:12-2:14- Returns to shot seen at 1:11-1:13.
2:15-2:17- Returns to shot seen at 1:14-1:15.
2:17-2:20- Returns to shot seen at 1:11-1:13.
2:20-2:21- Returns to shot seen at 1:14-1:15.
2:21-2:21- There is a close up of the woman holding more money in front of her face.
2:21-2:22- It then cuts to an extreme close up of the young woman with the money in front of her face and her eyes are looking directly at the camera.
2:23-2:24- Returns to shot seen at 0:11-0:20.
2:24-2:26- Returns to shot seen at 1:14-1:15
2:26-2:28- Returns to shot seen at 0:11-0:20.
2:28-2:31- Returns to shot seen at 1:14-1:15.
2:31-2:33- Returns to shot seen at 0:52-0:54.
2:34-2:36- There is then a mid shot of the young woman sat in the chair looking off to the left playing with her hair.
2:36-2:38- Returns to shot seen at 0:52-0:54.
2:39-2:41- Returns to shot seen at 1:14-1:15.
2:41-2:44- Returns to shot seen at 0:52-0:54.
2:44-2:47- There is then a high angle over the young woman as she is laying down on the sofa, the camera then slow zooms out.
2:47-2:49- Returns to shot seen at 0:52-0:54.
2:49-2:51- There is then a mid shot of the woman eating the pancakes, she looks upset and her make up is a mess.
2:51-2:54- There is the same shot as seen at 1:14-1:15 only this time the artist is looking down disappointed and rubbing his face.
2:54-3:04- The shot starts off with an extreme close up of the young woman's hands stabbing at the pancakes. The camera then pans up to a close up of her face, her mascara smudged, she then eats the pancakes before spitting it out.
3:05-3:19- There are rolling credits for the song.

Textual Analysis Aerosmith Cryin'

Audience evaluation

Audience Evaluation

From these results, our audience are mainly female. This is very stereotypical as females tend to prefer romantic genres. In our music video, we will include young female characters within our video, which will help to sell our music video easier to the target audience. In conclusion, our music video will sell better to the female audience due to the genre being romance as well as including young female characters within our video.

Majority of our target audience were aged between 16-25, whilst the least were aged 45 or older. Due to our music video being aimed at such a young target audience, we will have to include characters of similar age to help the audience watching connect with them and sympathise. Also, many music videos nowadays include young actors as it's easier to attract the younger audience as they're more likely to watch and get involved with promoting the video.

In addition, most of our target audience prefer to listen to the pop genre, as well as some listening to rap and other music. This shows that nowadays, majority of youth listen to pop music as it is the most trendy and popular music genre. However, my groups music video is based on a more on an alternative rock/pop genre. Our song is called 'Hallelujah' by Jeff Buckley.

From these results above, it was a very close result of whether it is important to send a clear moral message in a music video. 18 people said yes whilst 17 said no. Therefore, we will include a very small moral message, which will be more based on not taking drugs. 

In contrast, original music videos use to just show the artist/ band performing, and no moral messages were given. However, today, many music videos include moral messages to engage the audience to watch it and spread awareness.

Most of our audience expect to see lots of emotion within a romantic genre music video. Others have mentioned slow music, which links well to emotion. Also, a storyline and happy ending was mentioned. Stereotypically, a romantic video would include two people falling in love and have a 'happily ever after'. However, in my groups video, we will include a storyline which is tense at times with lots of emotions shown throughout the video, as well as there not being a happy ending as the main narrative is about heartbreak.

Furthermore, most of our young target audience prefer a hybrid music video. A hybrid music video is when two or more different types of music videos are merged into one. This links well to my groups music video as we are creating a hybrid music video, which includes a narrative and performance. A narrative music video is where a story is being told to the audience. A performance however, includes a performance from the artist/band which could be live in front of an audience or in a studio.

36 out of the 42 people whom answered our survey said that they didn't feel uncomfortable with sexual themes being included in a music video. This will help our group with filming our video as there will be a little sexual scene included due to it being a romantic genre, but it will not be graphical therefore it is still suitable to watch.

Half of our respondents said that they don't mind if the music video is long or short. However, two-thirds mentioned that they prefer shorter music videos, which is because they would rather listen to the song rather than having different scenes in-between interfering with the song. Therefore, our group will film a shorter music video with a short introduction to keep our audience watching and interested.

In addition, most of our target audience rated a 3 for wanting to see a introduction, whilst others mainly rated either 1 star or 4. Therefore, my group will include an introduction at the beginning to give the audience an understanding of the storyline, as well as introducing them to characters and engage them to watch the music video.

In conclusion, my group and I intend to include young characters to help our young audience engage with the characters and sympathise with them, which will make the audience watching enjoy the music video. We will try our best to make the video look realistic as much as possible to make the audience believe whats happening (Barthes Enigma Theory). This links to Barthes Enigma Theory due to us using the Enigma, Symbolic and Action code to keep the audience question on what may happen next, making them want to watch more.

Also, an introduction will be included, but it will be a short one to make sure our target audience do not get bored of watching the video. Our story will focus on a variety of emotions as we will include flashbacks, as well as giving a dramatic storyline.

Music video analysis