Audience research analysis

1. I created a survey for my audience research to gain an insight into what the
audience would expect. I sent this survey out to friends and over Twitter so
that I could try to reach a variety of people.
I explained in the
description of my
audience research
survey that the aim
was to collect
information on which
audience I will be
aiming to please,
and to see what type
of music video they
would like to see.
I received 18 responses from
doing so. The majority of my
responses came from females,
which I expected. This means
that the views I discovered in
this are mostly from the female
perspective and I should take
this into consideration. All
participants bar one were in the
16 – 20 age range, with one in
the 11 – 15 range. With
responses from a teenage
population, this shows how it
will reflect on the responses
later in the survey. I should also
consider this in the production
of my music video as the
audience as expected will
mostly be teenagers.
Gender of Participants
Female
Male

2. 100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
Dislike
Like
As part of my survey, I asked people to specify their favourite genres from a
list shown on the left. Alternative, indie, rock, and pop were chosen as
favourable genres. I left the option for people to state any other genre of
music they are interested in. I received the responses of country, trap,
Americana indie, instrumental, electronic, space rock, hip-hop, smooth jazz,
grunge, space rock, and blues. This is a very wide range which tells me a
diverse range of people responded to this survey but generally they also like
pop, indie, alternative, and rock. This bodes well for me in terms of choosing
an indie-pop band to base my coursework upon.
I asked people to name their favourite music videos as part of audience
research. I received a variety of results genre wise, and for a lot of different
reasons. Four people mentioned The 1975 (two naming Robbers), which tells
me that I should look at their videos and try to take inspiration from them. One
participant left this reason:
“The 1975's "Robbers" also has the same verisimilitude as "Love and Drugs”.
There are essences of light-hearted atmosphere formulated by the potentially
detrimental activities the actors are partaking in. The heavy atmosphere is
again instilled in the music video, but once again the juxtaposition of the two
atmospheres create the music video's appeal. It creates tension and piques
the interest of the audience because of its relatively new and creative
approach to portraying a new outlook on how the youth of today functions.
Perhaps the music videos are subject to perception, but that's why I like it.
Not to mention the cinematography is well done as well, it adds an aesthetic
appeal.”
0%
Pop Rock Indie R&B Alternative Dance Heavy
Metal

3. This is really useful to me because some of the reason why this is a
favourable video corresponds with what I want to do. I want to show the
audience an element of youth and young love, and use a juxtaposition of the
weather to portray moods and emotions. Many people responded that they
liked music videos they perceive as simple; examples of Towers by Bon Iver,
Love and Drugs by The Maine, Make a Beast of Myself by Twin Atlantic, and
Single Ladies by Beyoncé were given. Each video is quite simple yet have a
good meaning behind them – this is the type of video I’m aiming for. Some
said their favourite videos rate so high to them because the video relates to
the song and/or title. Other reasons for videos are that they’re almost
cinematic and ones that tell a story. I will take all of this into consideration
when making my music video.
Responses: Bon Iver- Towers. Simple, beautiful scenery, almost cinematic like / Heart
Out - The 1975: it's nostalgic and it tells a story / #Beautiful by Mariah Carey because
the colours are so nice / Right now probably the Shake It Off music video because I just
think its super happy and like cute and it can really lighten up my mood / Fancy - Iggy
Azalea because it's supposed to be the movie clueless, Far Away – Tyga because it tells a
story and has a plot twist that you wouldn't expect / I like the editing for Arctic Monkeys - Do
I Wanna Know (so original I know). I like how the beats go along with the movements in
the video and how it's not just the musician/band singing their song for the camera – that’s
unoriginal and boring to be honest / I really like The Maine's "Love and Drugs". I like
how it takes a simple-everyday outing and turns it into a huge backstory. The cinematography
is really appealing, too. Nevertheless, there's a heavy, rather tragic atmosphere the music
video creates with the characters portrayed and the backstory eventually revealed -- such is
juxtaposed with a light-hearted atmosphere created by the essence that the 'teenagers' in the
music video are out having fun (in a rather illegal way). But the light-hearted yet 'damaged'
(for lack of a better word) atmosphere created by the story being conveyed adds the
verisimilitude to the story, which makes this music video appealing to me / my favourite
music video is Hard Out Here - Lily Allen as I like the satirical elements of it and I think it's
very out there and different, and definitely addresses the issue of sexism. / Little Things -
One Direction, I like how simple it is and meaningful / Robbers - The 1975, I like how the
video relates to the songs and how intimate/fast moving it is / Make a Beast of Myself
by Twin Atlantic because it's such a simple idea that takes the title seriously but is executed in
a creative way / Daft Punk - Around the World, OKGo - Here It Goes Again,
Radiohead – Just, Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box / My all time favourite music video has
to be the Single Ladies music video by Beyoncé. It's so simple yet genius.

4. Next, I asked for people to assess music video criteria and judge how
important it is in making a music video interesting. The criteria was:
 Telling the audience a story (narrative)
 Performance from the artist
 Editing matching the beat of the song (thought beats, etc.)
 The artist's 'star image'
 Special effects/editing techniques
 Featuring the musician in the video
 Making the audience think and wonder
 Distortion of reality
 A distinct ‘digesis’/world established, in which the music video takes
place
 Intertexual references to other media products
 Addressing relevant issues in the world
I gave them a scale to base this on; very important, slightly important, neither
important nor irrelevant, not important, completely irrelevant. The results for
each music video criteria are:
0 2 4 6 8 10
Telling the audience a story
(narrative)
Completely irrelevant (0)
Not important (0)
Neither important nor
irrelevant (2)
Slightly important (7)
Very important (9)
0 2 4 6 8
Performance from the artist
Completely irrelevant (0)
Not important (3)
Neither important nor
irrelevant (3)
Slightly important (6)
Very important (6)

5. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Editing matching the beat of
the song (thought beats)
Completely irrelevant
Not important (1)
Neither important nor
irrelevant (1)
Slightly important (5)
Very important (11)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
The artist's 'star image'
Completely irrelevant (3)
Not important (3)
Neither important nor
irrelevant (5)
Slightly important (4)
Very important (3)
0 2 4 6 8 10
Special effects/editing
techniques
Completely irrelevant
Not important (3)
Neither important nor
irrelvant (2)
Slightly important (9)
Very important (3)

6. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Featuring the musician in the
video
Completely irrelevant (2)
Not important (4)
Neither important nor
irrelevant (2)
Slightly important (5)
Very important (5)
0 2 4 6 8 10
Making the audience think and
wonder
Completely irrelevant
Not important (1)
Neither important nor
irrelevant (8)
Slightly important (8)
Very important (6)
0 2 4 6 8
Distortion of reality
Completely irrelevant (1)
Not important (4)
Neither important nor
irrelevant (6)
Slightly important (5)
Very important (2)

7. 0 2 4 6 8 10
A distinct 'digesis'/world
established, in which the
music video takes place
Completely irrelevant (1)
Not important (0)
Neither important nor
irrelevant (5)
Slightly important (9)
Very important (3)
0 2 4 6 8
Intertextual references to other
media products
Completely irrelevant
Not important (4)
Neither important nor
irrelevant (7)
Slightly important (3)
Very important (0)
0 2 4 6 8 10
Adressing relevant issues in
the world
Completely irrelevant
Not important (1)
Neither important nor
irrelevant (5)
Slightly important (9)
Very important (2)
This research tells me that the most important things to try to get into my
music video are thought beats, using a narrative, performance from the artist,

8. addressing relevant issues in the world, a distinct digesis, good and
interesting editing techniques, and making the audience think and wonder.
The rest of the criteria didn’t have such an important as the rest to the
participants, however I will still aim to show off the star image because I feel
that this is something important for my particular artist if I present her as a
solo singer. Best Coast are generally in their music videos and have a
performance element but obtaining the instruments could be hard.
As part of my audience research, I asked why people watch music videos.
The options were given of:
 To be entertained
 To identify with the artist
 To see if the lyrics can tell a story
 To feel an escape from reality
 To learn something
People were allowed to choose as many of these as they want for I feel that
there are different reasons for people to watch a music video. The results are
as follows:
Why do you feel you watch music
videos?
To be entertained (15)
To identify with the artist (7)
To see if the lyrics can tell a
story (7)
To feel an escape from reality
(6)
To learn something (3)
This tells me that mainly, I need to focus on making it an entertaining music
video so that I can entertain my audience. I also should really focus on the
narrative and try to link it with the lyrics because this would make it better in
the long term. I will again aim to use the artist in the video and play on the
‘star image’. People wanting to identify with the artist now gives me another
reason to do this.

9. My next two questions were about the genre conventions and actual content
of the music video. I asked if people would rather the video stray or follow
indie music video conventions. 16/18 people said they would prefer if it
strayed from the conventions. I then asked if people would rather watched a
narrative based video, a performance based video, or a mixture of the two.
The majority voted for it to be a mixture of them both whilst the rest said
narrative based which again tells me to focus on the narrative because it
seems to be very important when watching a music video. However, I still plan
to use performance aspects in the video because I think it will add to the
authenticity and carry on themes.
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Would you rather an indie music video follow or stray from the typical conventions?
Follow conventions (2) Challenge conventions (16)
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Chart Title
Should an indie music video be mainly narrative based, performance based, or a mix of the two?
Narrative based (4) Performance based (0) Mixture of both (14)

10. My penultimate question was about the fashion of the music video. I asked
what was expected for people in an indie music video to wear. The most
common response I received was that they could wear ‘anything’ which I
interpret as relevant clothing, simple things that fit the genre. Someone used
the description ‘shabby-chic’, stylish but a little bit off so that we can see the
indie influences. I got back responses of ‘things considered grunge’, ‘trendy’,
‘plain’, ‘fashionable but ever so slightly quirky’, ‘something appropriate,
representing their personality and image, and something fitting the video’,
‘loose clothing’, and ‘ʺvintageʺ clothing’. I think most of these fit into each
other and will allow me to base the clothing on all of these responses as well
as past ideas and other music videos.
My final question was whether people had heard of Best Coast or not.
Participants generally said they weren’t aware of the band – understandable
as they’re not very ‘mainstream’, this is a relatively unknown band in popular
media but still have a strong base of fans. Regardless, I still think this is a
good song choice and I believe my music video can still appeal to people who
are fans of similar artists and existing Best Coast fans.
This research has helped a lot as it’s allowed me to see what people expect
from my music video. I will consider all of this in the planning and production
stages.