Primary Research (Audience Research)

20.9.12

I have played my song to a group of my target audience, and asked them to give me feedback of the first words, thoughts, ideas, colours and images that come to their minds when listening to the song. I am doing this research so that I can identify any common ideas that my target audience shares, so that I can include this in my video to make it more successful.

The most common words mentioned were: happy, fast, bright, sunshine/sunny, energetic, dancing, friendship and outside location. I feel that the group understood the song well and their feedback will have a positive impact on the production of my music video. I will try my best to incorporate their ideas into my music video, because that will make it appealing to my target audience.


I also created a questionnaire, and handed these out to a different group of my target audience after I had played my chosen song to them. This was the questionnaire I handed out:

QUESTIONNAIRE

After listening to the song I have chosen for my music video, ‘Happy Face’ by the band Destiny’s Child, please answer the following questions to help me create my music video:

(Please circle one answer per question unless instructed to do otherwise)

SECTION A

1.       After listening to this song, what colours would you expect to see in the music video? (select up to three answers)

White     Black     Yellow     Green     Red     Blue     Silver      Gold     Purple

2.       Would you expect to see many actors in the music video, or only the artist(s)?

Many Actors     Only The Artist(s)

3.       What type of shots would you expect to see in the music video? (select up to three answers)

Close Up     Medium Shot    Long Shot    High Angle    Low Angle   Canted Angle

4.       Would you expect to see many special effects in the music video?

Yes     No

5.       What type of setting would you expect to see the actors in? (select up to three answers)

Outside     Inside     Wide/Open     Small/Crowded     Dark     Bright

SECTION B

6.       What genre of music do you usually listen to?

R&B/Hip Hop     Pop    (Indie) Rock     Alternative     Classical     No Specific Genre

7.       How often do you watch music videos?

Daily     Weekly     Monthly     Yearly     Rarely

8.       What do you mostly use to view music videos?

YouTube     Music Channels     Others

9.       Do music videos influence how often you listen to a song?

Yes     No

Please state why you chose your answer…………………………………………………………………………….

10.    Do you believe a song’s music video is just as important as the song itself?

Yes     No

Please state why you chose your answer…………………………………………………………………………….

'Section A' of my questionnaire is relevant to my specific song, and 'Section B' contains general questions about music videos.

I put my results into graphs and charts then evaluated them:

When I asked what colours my target audience wanted to see in the music video, the most selected colour was white, the second most was yellow, and blue and green were joint for having the third most votes. This means that I will definately use white and yellow, which were also colours I was already planning to use. I will try to add green and blue into my music video where appropriate.

 When I asked my target audience if they would expect to see many actors, or only the artist(s), the majority of them said that they would expect to see only the artists in the music video. Because of these results, I will only use the 'artists' in my music video.

 I provided my target audience with a small range of common camera shots and angles used in music videos, and asked them to select the ones which they would expect to see. The majority of them selected close ups, so I will use these in my music video to allow the audience to see the artist's happy emotions. Many of them selected long shots, which I can use to show the audience the artist's surroundings which could reflect her emotions. Many of them also chose low angle shots, which I can use in my music video to connote the power the artist's recieve from their positive emotions. Some of them chose medium shots, which I can use in my music video to allow the audience to see the artist's clothes, and how those clothes represent the artist and the lyrics.

The majority of my target audience replied 'no', when I asked if they would expect to see special effects in the video, which means I will not be using any special effects for my music video.

When I asked my target audience about the type of setting they would expect to see the actors in, the majority of them selected 'bright'. I will definitely aim to make my video bright and sunny, not only because of the results from this question, but also because of my feedback from my earlier research, and the relevant connotation brightness and sunniness have with the lyrics of my chosen song. Many of my target audience said they would expect the setting to be 'outside', however many also said they would expect it to be 'inside'. I have decided I will film on multiple locations, both inside and outside. Many of the target audience selected that they would expect to see the music video filmed somewhere 'wide/open'. Because of this, the outside location that I use will be wide and open.

The majority of the people I gave my questionnaire to, mostly listen to the genre of Pop and/or R&B/Hip Hop. This is good because that is my target audience and that is also the genre of the song I have selected to use for my music video.

The majority of my target audience said that they watched music videos daily. This shows that as well as listening to a song often, people watch the music video often too. This expresses the importance of music videos for the success of artist's songs.

Most of my target audience watches music videos through YouTube. Because of this, it would be best for me to create my video in a video format which is compatible with YouTube and maybe even release my music video onto YouTube.

When I asked my target audience if music videos influence how often they listen to a song, there was a mixed response, however there were more people that selected 'yes'. I asked them to provide reasons or their answers, and for the people who voted 'yes', reasons included: 'I want to watch good videos over and over again, which means I end up listening to the song over and over again' and 'a video can make a song more interesting'. This again shows how important and influential a music video can be. 

When I asked my target audience if they believe a music video is just as important as the song itself, there was a mixed reponse once again, and once again there were more people who selected 'yes'. I asked them to provide the reasons for their answers, and for the people who voted 'yes', reasons included: 'a good video can make you want to watch it more, meaning you listen to the song more, which is what the artist want' and 'a video can explain a song more and help the audience understand the message the artist is trying to send'. These results show how important and influential a music video can be.