Focus Group findings / Report.
Discuss ideas for genre of music for music video (pop or indie pop) along with genre of music video (narrative, experimental or performance) as well as generating ideas for music video content that are what the ideal target audience of 18-25-year olds would like to see in a music video.
Participants= Group of 6 aged 18 – 21.
Report
Q 1)Which genre of music do you prefer, pop or indie pop? Is there are particular reason
Pp 1) I prefer pop music more as it often has a more engaging rhythm to follow.
Pp 2 ) Yes but I feel that indie pop is better and it has an edge to it not many songs found in the top 40 have, indie pop is more about the overall sound.
Pp 3 ) Indie pop feels more old school like 80s music which I feel has better quality then the music today.
Pp 4) But pop music is easier to sing along to at parties ect. I mean everybody knows the lyrics so everyone can enjoy it.
Pp 5) Mr Brightside is classed as an indie song but everyone knows the lyrics to that and can enjoy it also.
Pp 2) You see even some of the best songs are indie.
Pp 6) Plus if you’re focusing on ‘indie pop’ then it has something for everyone, it can be used as a sing along song but also has a more edgy sound that most can appreciate.
Q2) Which genre of music video do you prefer, narrative, experimental or performance and how would you like these set out?
Pp 1) I think experimental would be pretty could as you can try things you’d never normally do before like experimental with colours and stuff like that.
Pp 3) Yeah plus performance is often over done as it’s so easy its more fun to experiment and push the boundires of normal film making.
Pp 2) I think sometimes it’s fun to see the artist in the video but not always as a performance.
Pp 4) I don’t know I like to see a story played out that follows the lyrics.
Pp 5) Yeah a narrative is nice it’s like following a mini movie to your favourite songs.
Pp 6) Plus with a narrative you can also turn it experimental like a new wave film, its fun to show a narrative with a different perspective.
Q3) Which song would you prefer to see as a music video and why? (Bastille, Laughter Lines, Twenty-one Pilots, Trees and Fun, Stars)
Pp 6) I think Bastille Laughter lines would be fun to see as a music video as they lyrics are quite deep and will be cool to see an emotional video to match.
Pp 2) And Bastille’s music videos often show the artists mixed into the narrative helping to show the emotion.
Pp 1) I would like to see Trees as a music video because although the lyrics are deep the rhythm is upbeat its contradicting and fun to read into.
Pp 3) I also like Bastilles Laughter Lines because their music videos often have a loose meaning so we can decide for ourselves what it means.
Pp 4) I think that Stars by Fun would be interesting as it would be easy to follow the story told in the lyrics.
Pp 5) I would also prefer to see Bastille’s Laughter Lines; this is because the basis of a story has already been started through the lyrics and the use of viollins etc. creates an emotional feeling.
Q4) Which song gives a deeper meaning to you and why?
Pp 1) Again it would be Trees as to me the story is about social anxiety, Saying I can feel you is kind of like thinking in your own mind
Pp 2) I still would say Bastille Laughter Lines because the story is about growing old that everyone can relate to and tells the story if growing old in a graceful way.
Pp 3) I also agree, its relatable to everyone.
Pp 4) Although I prefer Laughter Lines but I feel that its deeper as it might actually be about someone who won’t grow old but instead will watch others while they remain young.
Pp 5) Again I agree with Laughter lines because to me it’s about two people, either friends a couple or something else falling apart and seeing each other in the future and falling back together and being closer than ever.
Pp 6) I hate to be repetitive but it would also be Bastille’s song for me, I also think it’s about someone growing old gracefully and puts forth the idea that age isn’t a bad thing and that gaining your laughter Lines shouldn’t be viewed as a bad thing but something to be cherished.
Q5) Is there anything you would like to add to the mood boards?
Pp 1) I think that for trees it should have more pictures of someone in a crowded room but also being isolated, or the feeling that they can’t breathe.
Pp 2) I think for trees it should be more black and white to add a more gloomy feel to it.
Pp 5) For Stars I would add more of a feeling of two binary opposite characters to really show a difference between their feelings.
Pp 3) Again no, I feel that the one for Laughter Lines fits almost perfectly into the feel of the song.
Pp 4) No I think they all represent the feelings that I get from listening to the songs.
Pp 6) I wouldn’t change anything but I feel that the idea of the close up of the young eyes and the ‘old’ eyes is good and matches the lyrics.
Findings.
From looking at the first question asked I can tell that majority of people would prefer indie pop over pop music as it feels more like 80s music which seems to be popular. Also, as one participant described it has something for everyone as it combines two genres therefore it’s better for a mass audience as more people can find something they enjoy about the music rather than not liking it because it only conforms to one genre.
When looking at the findings from question 2 I found that the target audience would prefer a narrative or experimental music video over a performance, although one said they would like to see the artists they also said it doesn’t mean they have to be doing a performance, they could be incorporated into the narrative of which happens in many Bastille’s music videos. When creating my own music video, I will try to incorporate a narrative but do it in an experimental way as one participant said they would like to see this.
I can also tell that more people would prefer to see Bastille’s Laughter Lines turned into a music video. This is because the participants said it had a deeper feeling and has a very emotional feeling to it. Another suggested that it would be easier as the initial idea for a narrative to match has already been created through the lyrics therefore making production easier. They also said that they would prefer it because of the instruments used such as the violins creating an emotional feel. This means that when creating my own music video I will use the song Laughter Lines as it’s the more popular option by the target audience.
When looking at the findings from question 4 I can tell that it’s easy for everyone to gain their own meaning from the lyrics but it seems that Bastille’s Laughter Lines is more relatable to a wider range of audiences. Audiences can apply their own story to the song/ music video. Therefore, when creating my own music video for Bastille’s Laughter Lines I will try to make a lose meaning so that everyone can continue to add their own meaning to it and therefore allow them to gain the gratification from personal identity as everyone can relate to it.
Finally when examining the responses to question 5 I can see that the participants wouldn’t add anything else to the mood board for Bastille Laughter Lines therefore when creating my own music video for the song I will continue to use the mood board for inspiration and ideas for cinematography. I can also tell that if by chance I do end up using Twenty-one Pilots, Trees for my music video I will try to encode a more gloomy feel to it as this seems to be what the target audience would prefer to see. And for Fun’s Stars I will try to make sure to include two binary opposite characters to help develop the narrative.
Evaluation.
One positive of my focus group is that I was able to ask questions directly to my target audience which was 18 – 25-year olds. This means that the predictive validity of my focus group is improved as it suggests that if the same focus group is conducted again with different participants of the same age the results will be similar. This is a positive because it means that the results I collected are more accurate and therefore inform the making of my music video more. This also improved the face validity of the focus groups because by asking people in the target age range helps to test what I originally aimed to test by asking for opinions from the target audience.
However a negative of my focus group is that I was only able to conduct one focus group instead of doing it multiple times with different participants. This is a negative because it means that I wasn’t able to gain a wider opinion from the target audience which could have helped improve my music video by adding more ideas. This means that the test-retest reliability is heavily reduced as I was unable to get constant results and opinions between different groups.
Another positive of my focus group is the types of questions I was able to ask the participants in particular the question ‘Which song gives a deeper meaning to you and why?’. This question was a positive as it meant that I was able to understand what meaning the target audience gains from their preferred song. The answers given will also help when trying to construct a narrative for my music video. By asking questions like this I was able to improve the content related validity and the questions were appropriate and related to what I initially planned to find out by discussing ideas for music videos.
A final problem of my focus group was that due to limited time with my focus group I wasn’t able to ask a lot of questions and only managed to ask five questions. This is a negative because its means that I wasn’t able to get a full insight into what my target audience wants from a music video therefore not gaining a full understanding of what would be preferred which may reduce the quality of my own production. If I was to conduct this focus group again I would make sure that I have a longer amount of time in order to ask more questions to better inform the making of my music video as well as gaining a wider range of ideas I could implement into my own production.
Overall I feel that although I wasn’t able to ask more questions my focus group was still effective in helping influence the decision making of my music video. I was able to get informed instant responses from my target audience. It also meant that I was able to get high amounts of qualitative date meaning that I had more detailed responses then ones produced from a questionnaire.
