Evaluation Question 3

What Have You Learnt From Your Audience Research?

Throughout the process of making my music video and digipak I have continuously obtained audience feedback from my target audience using Survey Monkey. Survey Monkey is a website that allows you to create your own surveys and questionnaires and share them with whoever you would like.

Target Audience
From my audience research already knew that my primary target audience was going to be females aged between 16 and 24. However, I also had a secondary target audience of all genders aged between 30 and over. I aimed to get my research from mainly my primary target audience, whilst also attempting to gain some knowledge about my secondary target audience's views as well.

Music Video
100% of the respondents of my questionnaires were in my target audience age range 50% were female and 50% were male. Therefore all were viable respondents for my research.

The way I decided to choose what kind of music video to do, I first analysed the preferred music genre of all my respondents. A total of 80% of respondents chose either Rock or Pop music and the cross over between the combination of the two and the song I chose had many similarities. All of the respondents were aware of the combination of narrative and concept in my music video and  all of them understood the narrative fully and one highlighted that the concept in the nature shots linked well with the previous me videos she had seen before. However, one did not fully understand why the nature shots and described them as "random". This wasn't the case from the rough cuts though, when I did my first questionnaire for the first rough cut some people did not fully understand the narrative. I was having a conversation with one of the respondents and they were saying that they did not pick up that these two people really had a relationship and loved each other because there was no evidence of that. I went out and did extra filming with my actor to film us having fun as you would see in home footage of a relationship and it proved to work. Further feedback from the first few rough cuts were that they felt like the last section with the guitar dragged on. I decided I should be more creative with that section. First I added the over layered clips over the top but the response was that it had improved but it still wasn't as climactic as they expected it to be - and to be honest it wasn't as climactic as I intended it to be. This was when I got the idea to add a strobe effect that could be seen in Moose Blood's live shows when they play this particular song. This links back to my audience research where I discovered that the audience enjoy live performance not only in the music videos but also going to live gigs.

Ancillary Products
I did not receive as much feedback as I would like to have done on my ancillary products as I spent a lot of the time on detail rather than checking for feedback along the way. However, all the feedback I did receive regarding my ancillary products revealed that both my magazine advert and my digipak were very minimalistic. One female respondent who was a fan of Moose Blood picked out the lyrics on the inside cover of my digipak and thought it was really interesting and creative to see the lyrics of each song printed out on a product. Furthermore, that same respondent recognised 'Rocksound Magazine' and thought that the addition of brands recognisable in the punk community made the advert appear to be genuine. Another respondent appreciated the clear link between the digipak and magazine ad in terms of colours and the logo. They said "at a glance it looks like a side project of the band." Considering I was influenced by previous projects from the band and the trends of other bands, this was a compliment to the professional minimalistic look I wanted each product to display. I asked one person who was part of my secondary target audience what they thought of the products. They much preferred the aesthetic of the digipak as it looked more 'old school' punk from the colourful themes with the use of dark images to contrast this. However, there was only colour in the magazine advert and it felt too "Poppy". Conversely, they did like the retro feel it had to it. Luckily, this was the American direction I wanted to take the magazine advert because it appealed to the younger primary target audience respondents I spoke to. One thing I now retrospectively wish I had asked my audience is "what do the products most make you think of?" in the hope I could have had a much better idea of whether or not I achieved the 50's American theme.

Rough Cut 5

Rough Cut 5

In this rough cut I further focused on the ending. I did another few swap rounds of the overlaying clips but I also added a different structure to the strobe effects nearer the end that I felt matched the music more than what I currently had. I also re-synced the second lip-sync clip because I had feedback that suggested it was not quite synched properly.

Rough Cut 4

Rough Cut 4

In this rough cut, I focused on the ending of my video. When I added the strobe effect I also wanted to change the overlaying clips to clips that were more appropriate. I experimented with many clips until I found the clips that I felt represented a relationship as I intended.

Rough Cut 3

Rough Cut 3

Rough Cut 2

Rough Cut 2

Rough Cut 1

Rough Cut 1

Artist Research: Moose Blood

The Background

Moose Blood are a self-proclaimed Emo-Punk band formed in Canterbury, Kent in 2012. In many of their songs they reference inspirations such as Brand New - a band that were 'big' in the Pop-Punk scene in the 90's and early 2000's. Also in their first album there were more references to other bands that influenced them in the 2000's such as Saves the Day and Say Anything.

When they formed in 2012 they released a demo for the song 'Bukowski' which became one of their most popular songs even currently.

After this, they worked on an EP named 'Moving Home', this contained: an instrumental that opened the EP called 'My Own Boat', 'Evening Coffee', the title track 'Moving Home', 'Carbis Bay', 'Drive' and finally the reworked version of 'Bukowski'. Their sound in this EP is very raw and is not altered much in post-production. Shortly after this, they also released two songs as singles 'Boston' and 'Orlando'.

                                       

November 2013, they collaborated with another small band 'Departures' to make a second EP, 'Departures/Moose Blood Split EP'. The only two songs from Moose Blood are 'Stay Here' and 'Girl'.

In 2014 they signed to No Sleep Records, a record company that many large punk bands such as Blink-182 have been signed to at some point in their careers. At the end of 2014 they went to the base of No Sleep in LA released their first album 'I'll Keep You In Mind From Time to Time'. It was well received in the US, it came in at number 9 on Rock Sound's 'Top 50 Albums of the Year' list and 45 in the US Billboard Heatseekers Albums.

More recently in 2016 they announced that they had signed to Hopeless Records for their new album. Their second album, titles 'Blush' is much less raw as they have a higher budget, this also means that the chances are that budget would also reflect in their music video productions but I do not have that budget as an A Level student.

Marketing

Moose Blood often use social media to market their products to their audience and also attempt to reach a wider audience, as they are still a new 'up and coming' band in the punk scene. They market from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Moose Blood Marketing on Facebook

Moose Blood Marketing on Twitter

Moose Blood Marketing on Instagram

Previous Music Videos

Gum

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• Narrative storyline that does not directly link to the lyrics.
• Artist is included in the video, live performance.
• A few of the shots relate to the lyrics but for the majority it is concept.
• Within the video there are links to the band's own merchandise but other than that, there don't seem to be other intertextual links.
• Throughout the video, there are no attempts to interact with the audience.
• The actors in the video aren't famous but are still the centre of the shots, the band feature for approximately 31 shots in the whole video.
• The video is of a medium pace, the average shot length is around 4 seconds in the first section. But after the first chorus, the shots shortened to an average of 2 seconds.

The elements I will most likely take from this is the idea of a narrative, however my narrative will almost entirely directly link to the lyrics. Also, the ratio of the narrative to the performance on screen.

Cheek

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• The video is entirely concept and only contains live performance, this is similar to other videos of theirs, such as Swim Down, Bukowski and Boston.
• All of the video is revolved around the artist being the centre of each shot.
• Because the video is a concept live performance, the visuals don't at all connect to the lyrics.

Target Audience Questionnaire

Target Audience Research Analysis

100% of the respondents from my questionnaire were actively interested in music music videos and in the age range of 16-24. Therefore making all of their responses valid to my research.

Firstly, 40% of the people had Pop as their favourite genre of music, same for Rock. However, only 20% preferred the Indie genre. This means I may have to adapt my music video to contain more Pop and Rock themes rather than Indie. I could have sections in black and white and sections with bright colours.

Secondly, 100% of respondents access music videos from the internet, this suggests that they are involved in technology and can relate to that aspect of life. Therefore I should attempt to include technology within my video. I should also make sure that this video is accessible on the internet, for example on YouTube.

Additionally, 60% of respondents prefer narrative music videos to concept videos. This isn't an overwhelming majority and therefore I could attempt to include both concept and narrative elements in my video. Maybe I will deviate slightly from the meaning behind the video to display some conceptual ideas within that.

Finally, my narrative video will relate to the lyrics because it is easier to create a narrative based upon a narrative that is already being told, plus, 100% of respondents prefer music video visuals that are related directly to the lyrics.

Target Audience: Questionnaire

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JZ2TDXL

Artist Research: The 1975

The Background

The 1975, formerly known under the names: Me and You Versus Them, Forever Enjoying Sex, Talkhouse, The Slowdown, Bigsleep and Drive Like I do, formed in 2002, Cheshire, England. They formed when they were 13 at their local school. Now they are around 27 years old - which is older than the majority of their fans. When they first begun under the name of The 1975 they were first described as being an Indie Rock band. But throughout the 14 years they have been together they have produced music progressing from Indie Rock to Electro Pop to Alternative Rock. Their first EP 'Facedown' was released in 2012 by the record company Dirty Hit, containing the songs Facedown, The City, Antichrist and Woman. This EP has a melancholic feel to it with the songs heavily referencing religion and relationships. Later that year they released the 'Sex' EP, this was the EP that started their rise in popularity in the music industry as the Alternative Rock song 'Sex' supported by Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe and pushed them towards a UK and Ireland tour. The following year saw the release of their third EP 'Music For Cars' this is where their mainstream success and potential became apparent. The song 'Chocolate' reached number 19 in the UK Singles Chart. Also in 2013, was their second EP of the year and fourth EP altogether 'IV'. 'IV' had a new version of a popular song 'The City'. This emphasises the band's awareness of the demand from their fans while also defining the creativity that they are still known for today.  The track charted in the UK and had airtime in many other countries. However this was their last EP before the release of their self titled debut album 'The 1975'. The album was released on the 2nd of September 2013, the re-worked lead single 'Sex' from the previous EP was released a week before as part of the hype for the album. The song was an instant hit and again was supported by Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe, furthermore the band's first music video was released on the 26th of July for 'Sex'. Their debut album reached number 1 in the UK Album Charts. The album was very much Indie Rock/Alternative Rock and had a lack of Pop influences.

Marketing

'I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It' Album Marketing

'Somebody Else' Single Marketing

'This Must Be My Dream' Album Marketing

'UGH!' Single Marketing

Obviously I do not have the budget or the time to get any actual neon lighting as marketing for my music video but I could at least take advantage of the natural locations in my town and take a high quality photo on the Cow and Calf or on the moors. With this I can then add neon text to attempt to replicate a similar style to this.

When I create the CD case I should also attempt to take inspiration from their single and album covers.

'Facedown' EP

'Sex' EP

'Music For Cars' EP

'IV' EP

'Medicine' Single EP

'The 1975' Album Cover

'ILIWYS' Album Cover

My CD case is going to be similar to the most recent album cover (the bottom one) in the sense that its going to be all white but I want it to feature a male defying stereotypes. Possibly sticking with the pink theme. But most importantly, I will feature the famous rectangle in the centre of the shot.

Official Hoodie

Official T-Shirt

Official Vests

A reoccurring theme of their merchandise as well as album covers are the rectangles again but also the font of their band name. This could be used within my CD cover as well.