In order to construct our audience research myself and Amy Nolan conducted a focus group, distributed questionnaires and interviewed a professional music video producer from Triggerset, Matt Clarke. Below are the videos produced from our focus group which included five females of the ages seventeen and eighteen. The girls were chosen as the corresponded with our ‘stereotypical’ target audience ( http://flincoln.blogspot.com/2010/03/target-audience-profile.html ), of fashion interested, aspiring, down to earth, middle-class white females, in further education, who listen to mainstream music channels. The focus group which we filmed in a school classroom was filmed in individual slots to collect more detailed and truthful feedback, as shown in past studies when audiences are interviewed in a group it is less likely that you will gain information from all of the members as the shyer characters will always rely on the more dominant ones. Also peer pressure and embarrassment can cause people to be untruthful and vague in their answers so not to draw attention to themselves. All of this means that one on one interviews are more relaxing for the participant and gain feedback from sources that may have otherwise been overlooked.From the feedback it became clear that my target audience felt that the video worked well to compliment the genre of the song, and overall was an appealing professional and appreciated piece of work. The comments have highlighted some weak points within the video which could be reworked to make the piece even more professional, however none of the comments were worrying or unexpected.
Target Video 1

Target video 2

Target video 3

Target video 4

Target video 5

From the feedback it became clear that my target audience felt that the video worked well to compliment the genre of the song, and overall was an appealing professional and appreciated piece of work. The comments have highlighted some weak points within the video which could be reworked to make the piece even more professional, however none of the comments were worrying or unexpected.

Video:
This is a list of the key points and criticisms from the focus session.

• Some of the colours in the shots contrasted with the rest of the video. These were the close up on the singer’s mouth, the shot of the purse and the ending sequence outside. Also our audience felt that the close up mouth shots didn’t fit in with the rest of the video as they contrasted heavily to the softer shots.
• Another shot which the audience didn’t like was the use of the plastic balls. Though they initially liked the shot, it wasn’t clear to them why it had been included. However I don’t think this is a problem as they didn’t think it affected the video aesthetically.
• The audience said that their favourite shots were the opening stills as they immediately broke the ice and drew them to the video. Also they felt that they worked well with the genre of music and suited the rest of the video acting as a mini prologue. They also felt that the ending shot was fairly strong when the use of ellipsis jumps the singer further along the path as it broke up what could have been a monotonous sequence.
• All of the girls interviewed placed the video in a similar genre, and said they expected to see the video on main stream music channels. Each girl said that the video would influence them to look further into the artist which was very good to hear. The fact that they all had similar view of positive as it proves the genre conventions we tried to use were correct and obvious.
• When it was revealed to the girls that the girl in the video wasn’t the actually artist and just a representation they told me that they felt she fit in with the role. Her face was feminine and friendly and her attitude captured what the song was about. This was good to hear as casting the correct artist was difficult, as you can see from my planning I tried many different isles before finally focusing on Freya.

Ancillary feedback video

From my ancillary task feedback it became clear that my consumers felt the use of similar imagery and colouring within my digipak, magazine advert and music video made a marketable and obvious brand, with each person giving the products as a package nine out of ten. This is pleasing as it supports my ideal of constructing my artist as a brand and breaching into many different forms of consumerism. Also by successfully linking the products my audience has been able to make a clear link between the merchandise, and as they mentioned that the pieces may make them look further into the artist, being able to clearly know what they are looking for is a positive.
Something which was mentioned during the research was that the colours used could have been brighter and warmer, to better entice an audience. I agree with my audience and feel that the use of a brighter colour also would have connoted the summertime feeling of the song and worked well to advertise the folk genre of the music. Both girls mentioned that the products colouring was weak, and so if I was to revise my designs I would add another dimension or colour to the products to attract my audience.
When asked which of the panes appealed most to my audience I was given contrasting answers, whilst one person said they liked the lyrical pane and felt that the guitar pane was the worst as it did not bring anything to the package another said that the guitar pane was her favourite. However when later questioned the girl that picked the guitar pane divulged that she was a fan of metal and rock music, which suggests that the visual aspects of a case are just as important when advertising the style of an artist as the actual music.

Magazine advert

• Both girls said that the advert linked well with both the digipak and the video through my use of similar imagery and themes, which is helpful for marketing my artist as a brand. It also suggests that I have created a sustainable brand.
• One girl said that the advert doesn’t grab the reader’s attention enough, and another explained that the light colouring wouldn’t make her stop to look. As this problem also occurred when speaking about the digipak I feel that I need to revaluate the colour schemes that I used, and instead of focusing on the brand of the product, try to make the individual aesthetics pleasing.
• The two girls said that the Advert gave them enough information without giving to much away, and the slight ambiguity left them wanting to know more. However one participant felt that the name should be brought to the top of the page as it should be the first thing you see and the thing that remains in your mind which I agree with. Also they felt that the chosen quotes suited the genre of music.

Digipak

• One of my audience said that the digipak was whimsical and reminded her of a fairytale, which connects to the story telling nature of folk music. She said that seeing the digipak would lead her to assume that the music was folk/pop. This reflects her point about the fairytale in that the designs are very light and feminine and happy.
• The other member of my audience said that the digipak wouldn’t make them want to buy the album as they are into rock music and heavy metal. This showed me that because my designs conform to my genre, they immediately deter anyone who listens to other genres of music. This will have a negative effect on the range of audience I attract and so I would be inclined to release another range of packaging to see what response I received. Especially since the girl said she liked the song once she had heard it.
• One girl said that she liked the close up pane of the artists face surrounded by the tree as it clearly introduced who the artist was and linked backed to the music video. She also said that the guitar pane was the least affective as it didn’t tie in with the rest of the package. However my other audience member stated that the guitar pane was her favourite, as it related to the music that she likes. This once again shows how important genre can be for marketing.
• Both girls felt that the digipak linked in well with the video, by using similar imagery and colouring, which is what I wanted to achieve. However they both felt that the colouring if the case was to pale as it didn’t draw their attention, and said that it was to cold for the summery music. If I was to re-evaluate my packaging I would use a warmer colour pallet, to attract my audience but also to make the packet more fun.
• Both of my audience members liked the fact that the digipak offered the bonus DVD as they felt it added a special quality to the case and gave it individuality compared to a normal CD case. They also liked the design and the inclusion of the lyrics as they felt they were getting their moneys worth. This reflects what I wanted to achieve when planning my design.

Another form of feedback for my music video, used was questionnaires. Ten questionnaires were handed out to my target audience age group of seventeen to eighteen year olds (as these are the people that watch and listen to mainstream music channels and music.) However instead of only asking my specific demographic audience of females, I decided to address males as well to see whether the music and video is appealing to another gender. From the research it became clear that whilst 100% of the females would want to watch the video again only 40% of males said that they would, commenting that they didn’t connect with the music or performer. One specific member said that the performance shots were boring whilst another said ‘It’s just not my style.’ highlighting that I am appealing to my perfect target audience.
90% of my audience said they thought the video belonged either to the folk or pop genre (with other suggestions being Indie and Alternative) and 100% of the group said they felt the video suited the genre. This is encouraging as I want the video to be as appealing as possible to my target audience and genre specific.
These are some comments collected from the questionnaires:
What did you think of the video?
‘Smooth pace strong transitions.’
‘Story worked well with the song’
‘Suits the genres, happy, cute and fun, nice colour tones and good actors’

What did you find most enjoyable about the video?
‘The stop motion at the beginning’
‘Performance shots, very effective’
‘The stop motion frames were pretty damn cool!’

Where would you expect to see the video?
‘MTV mainstream music ’
‘4Music, VIVA, MTV etc.’
‘Internet blogs, YouTube’

These were the comments that I received from a processional digital animator, and producer from Triggerset, Matt Clarke.
“The tone of the video complemented the song and style of the artist. The speed and composition of the piece was very good, synchronising well with the music. It used an impressive and varied use of shot types which held my attention. It made me feel as though I was watching a story as well a music video, which transcends your genre and accolades the song. The outside ending shot was very well put together however contrasted with the gradient of the other performance shots. You used very good transitions which didn’t appear jagged or misused. If you were to recreate the video again I would suggest that you looked at the grading of the shots, to give your audience a suggested time frame of what time the video was shot.”
I feel that the comments Clarke made correspond well with the views of my target audience and that if I was to remake or tune my products I should look at the way I use colouring and saturation as it is very important to the genre and theme of my music, and can make a measurable difference to how appealing and eye-catching a products are.
Below is an example of one of Triggerset’s videos and a quote from their website.
“Triggerset is a video production company specializing in the creation of bespoke visuals for the music and events industry.
We have many years experience of performing visuals live and the unique way in which we perform gives us an ideal platform to build content for live synchronized visual shows.
Over the past four years Triggerset has continued to grow, seeing its range of artists and clients with which it collaborates expand.”