The document discusses the results of a survey about R&B music videos. Key findings include: - Respondents preferred a balance of narrative and performance, with a slight focus on narrative. - Important conventions like close-ups and lip syncing should be included. - Romantic themes and slower pacing would be most appropriate over themes of money/luxury or drugs/alcohol. - Classy or cute dressing of characters is preferred over exaggerated gender roles. - Favorite artists like Nelly and Bryson Tiller provide examples of romantic themes that could inspire the video. - Locations like streets, parks or houses are more suitable than clubs. - The data is reliable

1. Polldaddy Analysis
Se7en Studios

2. The question of the audiences gender was relevant as we wanted to ensure that
the information collected from the survey was representative across both
genders. The fact that half the respondents were male and half were female
meant that there was a balance in opinion across both genders and thus,
information collected would not be bias and/or subjective to one gender. I.e. the
question allows us to understand how representative the data is. In addition to
this, it also allows us to appeal to both genders as long as we abide by the
advice and information given within the survey. This would work to our
advantage as if we were an actual record label company, it would be important
to gain feedback on the expectations of our video from both males and females
so as to engage and appeal to them both.

3. Having audience members identify the importance of conventions is, of course, an opinion based
question as opposed to a fact-based question. This means that the answers given are based on
what they believe is the most to the least important. Therefore, by following through with this
information and using it for our music video, we should ideally be able to satisfy our target audience
and receive a positive response to the outcome.
As seen in the screenshot above, close ups and lip syncing have been ranked at the top – with a
narrow gap between them. This essentially means that we will need to pay close attention to
following these conventions. In addition to this, we have found that in our research into music
videos, this is definitely followed by professional artists/bands and thus we must also follow this in
order to uphold a professional standard in our video. It can also be addressed that narrative was
ranked higher than performance.
From this, we have concluded that those who have answered the survey prefer storyline over
performance and thus we must ensure that we have a balance but pay closer attention to the
narrative over the performance.

4. It was important to ask the question of how old the respondents are as we wanted
to ensure that the information received from the survey covered a range of ages in
terms of their opinions on R&B music videos which would inform us on what/what
not to do. The screenshot shows that the responses were from an age range of 16-
21. This is definitely positive as it means that we will be able to appeal to this age
range if we are to follow what is recommended by these individuals. Since there
tends not to be as many individuals who are under 16 years old and over 30 as
opposed to the age range we have received responses from, we deemed these
categories as partially irrelevant in terms of collecting data from. Thus, we have
concluded that the age range of 16-21 is appropriate.

5. The fourth question, regarding the important conventions within an R&B music video is a fact-based
question as opposed to an opinion based question. This essentially means that we are able to see
the personal opinions of what the audience believe is most common. From comparing this to the
research we have done individually and as a group so far, we can say that the responses are very
accurate in terms of what seems to be the most important conventions in R&B music videos. Though
all of the above conventions are common across this genre, some tend to be more prevalent to the
genre than other. Having said this, following the number 1 convention (of money being of
importance) will be significantly difficult as we, as students, do not have the access to funding the
kind of lifestyle depicted in the majority of R&B music videos. This convention is also seen in the
audience feedback video as something to avoid due to the lack of practicality. In addition to this,
drugs and alcohol is not appropriate given the context, especially as we would like to focus on the
romance and relationship between two individuals and avoid other aspects. Despite romance being
second to last, we found that focusing on this would be more ideal and practical and also allow us to
build a strong narrative (as recommended by the audience in Q2).

6. Asking a question of what the respondents felt was most appropriate in terms of dressing,
is important as it will provide us with an understanding of how to dress the characters in
the video. Having said this, hyper femininity (exaggerated adherence to the typical female
gender role – e.g. being dependent on their ‘man’ and relying on money and success from
them) is what is seen as most important however we do not feel this is appropriate to
consider and develop in our video. Recently, we have noticed a huge rise and
development in feminism as a movement especially in the last few decades. Thus we
would like to invert the stereotypical dressing of men and women in R&B music videos
and instead dress the male and female as classy and/or cute.

7. Understanding the audiences favorite artists is vital in knowing which artists will attract a
larger demographic and thus we can brainstorm ideas on themes, styles and particular
aspects which make the most favorable artists popular. Nelly, despite being an artist famous
for his old songs, has a focus on the romantic element of relationships. Nelly is definitely
popular among the target audience but also from our experience of hearing individuals
reminisce about his songs. It can be seen that Bryson Tiller is ranked 2nd and it can be noted
that since his songs are not as upbeat as some of Rihanna’s songs, for example, we can use
Bryson Tiller’s style in videos or pace of songs and adapt them to fit in with our narrative of a
romantic relationship, which we currently have in mind. It can be added that Chris Brown’s
songs being neither as slow-paced nor based on romance as the above an as his past
songs, may be the reason for why he has been ranked as the 5th and last.

8. This question, regarding which location is most preferable, is important as it allows us as
a group to understand our target audience’s preferred location. This way, we can appeal
to their taste and ensure that the video meets a professional standard in this way. The
location ranked the highest is a club. Though as a group, we agree with this and believe
many R&B music videos are filmed in a club for some scenes, firstly this is not practical
and secondly this wouldn’t quite go with the ‘romantic’ theme that we are currently going
with as clubs tend to be paired more so with the objectification of women and the whole
idea of the ‘Notion of Looking’ (Goodwin). We therefore have decided that we will stick to
the next common locations of street, park and house. At these locations we will try and
invert the common representation shown in R&B videos of loitering and house parties
and add a romantic theme at these locations instead.

9. Asking such a question regarding the pace of the music is important as we
wouldn’t want to go with an upbeat song if the range of our target audience
prefer slow-paced songs. This does, however, work in our favor as we
hoped to do a romantic song focusing more on a relationship between two
people and thus a slow-paced song would make more sense to use to
match the narrative.

10. By asking what the respondents would prefer to see in a music video between
performance and narrative, we are able to pay close attention to one over the other.
Having said that, the fact that 9 out of the 12 who answered the question said both is
preferable, it means that we will have to balance the two. Drawing on the fact that
narrative was voted once more than performance, however, means that if we do decide
to focus on either narrative or performance we would ideally focus on the storyline and
ensuring that we make it clear and easy to understand and not pay as much attention to
the performance (in terms of what dominates the video). Though it is vital that we include
roughly 50% performance and from this there must be close ups of the individual lip
syncing as well as accurate lip singing which goes with the beat and is not at all off sync.

11. Asking this question is an extremely important one as it determines whether or not
the information collected in the survey is reliable. If some answered ‘no’ then that
would mean that the individuals are not in a position to know what R&B is like, the
conventions of the genre’s videos, the common locations and so on. Thus, all
answers being ‘yes’ means that the data that we have collected so far is reliable and
clearly from people who are in a position to know. t can be added that this means
data collected is also representative of a target audience that enjoys the genre.
As a result, we can conclude that the data collected is valid in informing us
what/what not to do and include and the personal opinions of our target audience
ranging from 16-21.