Our focus group transcript

1. Interviewer:Sowhatgenre of musicdoyou preferlisteningto?
P1: Pop definitely.
P2: Yeah I’dhave to say pop.
P3: Pop andmaybe like,poprock.
P4: Yeah popand probablylike dance music.
Interviewer:Oksoonthe topicof pop then;do youhave any artistinparticularyou like tolistento?
Or it couldbe a pop band.
P2: I like groupslike Little Mix butIreallylike DuaLipaat the moment.
P3: Yeah oh mygod I love her.
P4: I quite like CamillaCabello’snew song;Ithinkshe’s reallygoodrightnow.
P1: I don’treallylike one artistinparticular,like Imaylike afew songsbya bandor whatever,butI
can’t reallysaythere’sone artistIreallylistento.
P4: Yeah same,I kindof listentoan artist’sindividual songrather thanlistentoeverysongbythem
if that makessense.
Interviewer:OksoSelenaGomezisapop artist,have youheardof heror anyof hermusic?
P4: I thinkeveryone hasheardof her.
P1: Yeah I don’tknowmanyof hersongsapart from the recent oneslike fetishandbadliar
P3: Mmhm yeah.
P2: Well I rememberseeinghersongsonDisneychannel like whentheywere advertisedandin
showsandstuff.
Interviewer:Ok,doyouguyslike tosee a storyline inamusicvideo?
P1: Yeah itmakesit interesting.
P3: Yeah itstops itgettingboring.
P4: I don’treallywatcha music videobutif there wasa reallyinterestingstoryline,Iwouldprobably
watch itmore.
P2: I thinkit dependsonhowinterestingthe storylineis,cause Iif itwas boring,Iwouldn’t watchit
more than once.
Interviewer:Oksothere are two types of storylines,one islinear,where the eventshappenin
chronological orderandisrealistic.The otherisnon-liner,where the storyline isnotinorder,which
couldbe like flashbacksand stuff.Itbasicallycreatesamore abstract wayof showingthe story.
Whichdo you thinkwouldbe best?
P4: I thinklinearisprobablybetterbecause itwouldmake more sense,butthe non-linearone may
make it more interesting.
P3: Yeah.
P2: Yeah I agree,Ithinkif the storyline issimple already,thenlinearmaybe boring,butnon-linear
soundsa bitconfusingtome.
P1: Mmhm.
Interviewer:Doyoulike itwhenthe storylineconnectstothe lyrics?
P1: Uh yeahcause if theydidn’tthenthe storyline wouldbe abitrandom.

2. P3: Yeah butI thinkit’sa bit tacky whenthe lyricsare takenliterallylike doingsomethingwhenthe
songsays it.
P4: Yeah I thinkthatmakesthe videolooklike it’sforkids.
P2: Yeah.
Interviewer:Isthere anythingyouwould wanttosee inapop musicvideo?
P2: I’d like tosee a settingthatactuallyrelatestothe storyline.Notsomethingcheesyeither,likea
club.
P4: Yeah that’sreallyoverusedandkindaannoyingcause of that
P3: Maybe girlyclothing?
P2: Yeah,dresses andskirtsthat suitthe pop colour.
P1: Pinkclothingorsomethingsimilar. Andagirlysettinglike,Idon’tknow,flowers?
Interviewer:So,wouldyoulikethe artisttostay relatable?
P4: Yeah,I feel closertothe singerwhentheywearclotheslike us.
P2: I don’tknow,I kindalike tosee themwearingstuff thatlooksfancy.Makesme keepwatching
the video.
P1: I don’tknow,I’min the middle.Ithinkitdependsonthe artist.If it’sDemi Lovatoor something
thenyeah,I like thembeingrelatablebutif it’sBeyonce thenno.
P3: I like thembeingrelatable,seemsmore appealingtome.
Interviewer:Doesthismake the musicvideo eye-catchingtoyou? Whatelse does?
P1: The coloursdefinitelymake itstandout.If it’sbrightand colourful thenI’m more likelytowatch
it.
P4: Yeah same here, if the colourisbright,it standsoutagainstother musicvideos.
P3: I like the flashyediting
P2: I justlike seeingmyfavouriteartistactuallybeingpartof the videoinsteadof juststandinginone
spotand singing.
Interviewer:WhatDON’Tyoulike aboutmusicvideos?
P4: I hate itwhenthe videodoesn’tconnecttothe lyrics,like,itjustdoesn’tmake sense.
P2: Exactly,I hate it whenitdoesn’tmatchthe song at all.
P3: Mhm yeahsame.
P1: You know Hotline Bling?Yeah,the dancinginthatishorrible,Ican’t standthat.
P4: Alsoif there’slike a5 minute longstorybefore the videostarts.Ican’tbe botheredif itdoesn’t
start straightaway.