Focus Group

I organised a focus group with my target audience: female students, between the ages of 17-19. Firstly, I played them the song I have chosen for my music video (Lovin' It by Ariana Grande) and then asked them questions relating to the song. I also asked questions which were linked to the questionnaire I had previously distributed, since this allowed me to gain a more in depth knowledge of the audience's views. This activity was helpful in finding out their thoughts and opinions on the song and what ideas they thought could be incorporated into the music video.

 

I liked a lot of the ideas that they came up with therefore I will use some of them in my music video.
My questionnaire results showed that the audience like to see a narrative storyline within a music video. I therefore asked the focus group if they had any ideas of a storyline that would go with the song I've chosen. I like the idea of a girl chasing after a boy she likes, perhaps one that she has a crush on.
I thought it was important to find out what the audience dislike within a music video because it would help me know what not to include. This would ensure that I don't make a video that has low likeabilty. Taking their ideas into consideration, I will try to avoid making a stereotypical 'cheesy' video. I will not use any nudity or obscenities within the music video, especially since my target audience are predominantly female, most of them would not like to see that. I will also try to keep the storyline continuous without any slow parts. This will include using short takes and quick cuts.
From my questionnaire, I found out that the audience like to see dance within a music video. From this focus group I was able to find out more specificially what kind of dance the audience would like and also how much they would like to see. I have decided to include spontaneous dance in certain parts which go with the storyline, but I will also use a choreographed dance, perhaps at the end of the video or during the chorous.
Because the song I've chosen is called 'Lovin' It' and the lyrics are related to love, I wanted to find out how I could incorporate love and romance into my music video. I liked the group's idea of having a cute couple in the video, perhaps dancing and holding hands.
According to my questionnaire, the three most popular settings were a party, restaurant and street. Therefore I asked the focus group how these places could be incorporated into the video. In terms of a restaurant, I really like the idea of setting part of the video in an American-style diner. This relates to the audience as it is by an American artist, and also it quite conventional of the Pop/R&B genre, as it can be seen in videos such as Sean Kingston's 'Beautiful Girls' and Cher Lloyd's 'I Want You Back'. For the street setting, I liked the idea of using a nice looking street in somewhere like Hyde Park. I also liked the idea of having the couple meeting on the street. The focus group mentioned mise-en-scene such as telephone boxes and lamposts, which I will consider including in my video.

Conventions and Frame Analysis

In this task I watched the music video for ‘Baby I’ by Ariana Grande to gain an insight to the conventions which are used in music videos, I chose to use one of Grande's videos since I will be using one of her songs in my own music video.
I analysed still shots from the video and also compared them to conventions used in other music videos.
Since this song is a crossover between R&B and Pop I will be comparing videos from artists in both genres.
I used Microsoft Powerpoint to display my findings and then uploaded it to Slideshare.

This task was helpful because it gave me an understanding of what is typically seen within music videos. I will take on board these conventions and use them in my own work.