Target Audience results - miss Miller

The Questionnaire

How old are you?

What gender are you?

Do you enjoy dance music?

Do you prefer fast paced or slow paced editing within dance music videos and why?

Do you like the idea of being able to relate to a music video and why?

What style of music video do you prefer and why?

Who is your favorite artist within the dance genre and why?

Do you prefer a video that follows conventions or challenges them?

Have you heard of shift k3y? If so what do you think of him as an artist/performer?

What form of editing do you prefer in a dance music video?

Strobe lighting

Montage

Fast paced

Special effects

Green screen

My group and I have devised a certain questionnaire in order to discover the thoughts and

views of our target audience for our selected genre in relation to the features of the music

video we are creating. This target audience consists of 15-25 year olds as they are the

outgoing and younger audience of the dance genre. The research was specifically carried

out so that we could get a brief insight into what the target audience want to see in a dance

music video; meaning that we can create the video in corresponding to the results. This

would help to make the video more appealing to the audience and clarify what is needed to

meet the popular conventions of the dance genre. The questionnaire was completed by 40

people; we used this amount so that we could get a broad overview of the selected age gap

and so that we could supplement for both younger adults and older teenagers who's

opinions may differ. The research will be carefully used as the favoured conventions and

micro elements that are seen from the results will be incorporated into our music video.

The Results

1.)

The results for question one shows us that our audience for the dance genre and our selected artist is predominately older teenagers. This is evident from the shown interest they were seen to express through our dance survey with 16-22 year olds sharing the majority of applications. This shows us that the music video has to be created in order to appeal and relate to that selected age groups. This could be done through the use of narrative and setting with parts of the video seen to be set in a club and party atmosphere of which the older teenagers may be seen to enjoy. Plus we can also address our audience through the use of a work setting; many teenagers and particularly younger adults can relate to this as they are beginning to try and fit a social life around their work environment.

2.)

The results seen through this pie chart gives clear evidence that a majority of the dance audience who take an interest in the music videos for the genre and the thoughts behind it consists of females. This is clear as 23 of the questionnaire applicants were female; however this was not a large majority with the male participants amounting to 17. This shows us that the narrative for the video should be aimed slightly towards the female audience, without moving too distant from the male viewers. The way in which we will attract a female audience is through a love, relationship theme. Girls are seen to become enticed with this type of narrative as they share an interest in love stories, being able to fantasise and relate to the relationships presented. In addition to this we will also aim to appeal to the evidently large male fan base through presenting a successful individual that the audience can inspire to. This will be conveyed through extravagant settings, professional clothing and iconography used to emphasise his success. This suits the target audience as older male teenagers are often seen to fantasise about living this successful lifestyle.

3.)

This question gives us a clear indication that the popularity for the dance genre has really expanded recently, especially within the younger age groups of young adults and teenagers where it has been seen to force its way into their fun vibrant party lifestyle. This is seen from the large percentage of teenagers who said yes; 33 people within the target audience said yes opposed to only 7 saying no. This section of the research shows myself and the group that we need to focus upon the conventions of the dance genre in order to appeal to the selected target audience and their vibrant youthful lifestyle. One example of how we will achieve this is the use of a club setting of which the dance music is often seen to be played, plus the use of strobe lighting; another convention of the dance genre that portrays a fun party atmosphere.

4.)

This question shows that a large majority of the targeted participants were seen to prefer faced paced editing; especially in relation to the dance genre. Most of the audience chose this as they felt that this convention of the dance genre creates excitement, happiness and matches the fast beat of the music. The favouritism of this form of editing is shown from the fact that 29 people chose fast paced editing in contrast to the 11 who chose slow paced. This research simply confirms the fact that we must look to use fast paced editing within our sequence in order to comply to the needs of the target audience. This will be evidently used in the fast paced chorus of the song; as the lyrics repeat the phrase 'I Know' the video itself will be seen to speed up with quick successions of close ups taken from the club setting. This will also be seen to match the lyrics of the song which gives evidence of Goodwin's theory, helping to improve the quality of the video.

5.)

It is clear from the results within this pie chart that the target audience prefers the use of a relatable narrative and they are able to understand the lyrics and the meanings behind the song, allowing them to further connect with the artist and his emotions. This is seen from the slight majority as 24 people chose to favour the relatable plot compared to the 16 who opposed it. This will be addressed by myself and the group through the use of a relatable narrative based style. The character within the video will be seen to have the normal social life of a male young adult; this is seen as relatable to the younger target audience ranging from 16-22 year olds as they also live this vibrant lifestyle seen in the video. This party lifestyle that is lead by the character will be conveyed through the use of a club setting and fast paced editing. Additionally to this, in order to appeal to the lesser amount of results, the video will also portray a successful character with wealth and high status at a young age. This is something that aspiring teenagers and young adults can look up towards.  

6.)

Within these results there is a clear majority of people who enjoy the narrative based style of music videos. This is due to the fact that it clarifies meaning and reasoning behind the lyrics; helping the audience to understand the song and emotionally connect to the artist. The majority is evident from the 22 applicants who chose narrative opposed to the 18 choosing performance and concept. These results have simply influenced my group and I into creating a narrative based video in order to comply to the target audience requirements. This narrative will be made evident within the video as the main character is seen to be deciding over whether he should leave his girlfriend and enjoy his life at clubs and bars or stay with her for the memories that he cherishes. The narrative complies to Goodwin's theory as it matches the lyrics of the song when the artist talks about a guy who knows what the girl wants but is not sure whether he wants to be this fantasy or live his own life. Our selected narrative will be used to effect by helping to create an understanding for the song and the lyrics, plus elaborating upon the vibrant party lifestyle that the dance genre is seen to revolve around.

7.)

The results for this question may not be seen to have as much of an impact on the video as other results, however is clear that the target audience are seen to prefer David Guetta over other dance artists purely due to his personality being positive, sociable and aspiring as he travels around the world emphasising his success and positive nature. This is shown through the majority of 12 applicants seen to choose him over other famous dance artists. One way that we could use this research is for the character representation for the main character of the video who could be perceived to be the artist. We can use David Guetta traits in order to characterise our artist in order to appeal to the target audience. This would be done through presenting him as successful and socially comfortable with many friends and a high status job. This may be done through the use of extravagant iconography and setting plus the use of a mid shot showing him to be happy and positive when out with his mates.

8.)

This set of results specifically shows that the target audience is seen to enjoy the conventions of a dance genre. This may be due to the fact that they can relate and aspire towards the fun, vibrant lifestyle that teenagers and young adults are seen to enjoy which is portrayed through these certain dance genre conventions. Evidence of this favouritism towards the conventional dance music video is seen as 23 people were seen to prefer a video that follows the conventions of the dance genre. This simply shows us that the video must be made in accordance to the conventions of the dance genre. This will be conveyed through numerous micro elements. For example setting will be used to convey a party atmosphere within a club, faced paced editing will be incorporated into the video in order to match the pace of the music and low angle shots may be used to show the artists social status.

9.)

The results for this question gives clear evidence that Shift K3Y is beginning to develop a large reputation with the dance genre and throughout the target audience. This is seen by the 31 people who have heard of his in contrast to the 9 people who haven't. The majority of applicants felt that the artist was either original or vibrant and enjoyed the fact that he mixed pop into his music. The fact that he has built himself up within the dance genre reinforces the fact that we must again present him as being a conventional dance artist in order to comply with the needs of his fans and the representation within the music industry. This will be done by again making the video conventional to the genre through the use of different aspects from various micro elements seen within the music video.

10.)

Although the forms of editing stated as options within this question will be seen to be used throughout our music video, it is clearly evident from these results that the target audience for the dance genre is in favour of the use of strobe lighting. This may be due to the fact that strobe lighting conveys the conventional club, party atmosphere that the dance genre is based upon. Evidence of this is seen from the fact that a majority of 18 applicants preferred the use of strobe lighting over the given editing techniques. This gives my group and I an indication that strobe lighting must be effectively used throughout the editing of the video. Areas in which we can incorporate this use of strobe lighting could be seen at both the club setting and throughout the main office setting as the simple setting is converted into a more vibrant, youthful environment that appeals to the conventions of the dance genre.

CCCS Theory

A sub-culture is a group of people who are united through common value system and tastes (i.e Clothes, Music, Popular etc.) They can also be a group who are positioned outside of the mainstream, as they go against the mainstream of what is popular. My results give evidence of the CCCS theory for subcultures, stating that all cultures stem from the mainstream and are mostly the same. Evidence of this is seen from my research as the majority of the teenage/older adult age groups were seen to enjoy the dance genre and take an interest into the thoughts behind it and the reasoning behind dance music videos. It shows how most social age groups are evidently influenced from the age groups and that social media, radio and TV has a large influence upon teenagers and young adults with dance music often being played on large scale channels/stations. This emphasises the fact that we must elaborate upon the conventions of the dance genre, making our video a typical dance video in order to please the large mainstream culture that has developed.

Vox Pops

These videos were used to show more detail into the answers of my participants and their reactions to the various questions. It was very useful into showing answers for the more detailed and opinionative, open questions. It also added the reactions of people as they answer, emphasising what the target audience might understand and how deeply people are effected by various conventions of the dance genre. Mainly, however, it shows evidence of the interview style questioning used throughout the research.

Conclusion

There has been numerous discoveries seen throughout the process of this research with

multiple insights into the thoughts and opinions of the target audience for the dance genre.

These insights will prove to be very beneficial to the production of our video. The specific

points that we will take from the research consists of the use of a club setting, a work

setting, strobe lighting, dance conventions, a successful presentation of the artist, a

narrative based video and the use of fast paced editing. These were all elements of the

questionnaire that the participants were seen to enjoy; it means that we are able to appeal

to the selected target audience of the genre and create a video that meets the requirements

of the conventional dance artist. One thing I may do differently when doing the questionnaire 

again is to widen the range of applicants I asked; this could be done by asking older

participants in order to gain a better insight into the opinion of the mainstream audience.