Having collected a variety of feedback from our pop video for our pop video and ancillary products from members of our target audience and from other audiences demographics – via Youtube, a Focus group , our friends and other sources.
The target audience we were aiming at were 16-25 year olds from the JICTAR groups from E all the way to A . This meant C,D and E range from not as well brought up backgrounds to A,B,C which include people with more money and more sophisticated. There aspire to achieve high in life , highly educated they are the lawyers and account of this. The video could be interpreted as Four rich kids who have dropped out of school to play music and become the worlds greatest rock band which may appeal to A,B,C . Yet it could also be seen as four teens who have worked there way up from nothing to fame and fortune which would appeal more to C,D and E.
The video was uploaded to Youtube and Facebook. After six weeks and 500 viewings .These were the comments we received:
Youtube-
‘’Loved it ! x” ElleSevs1990
Facebook-
“ Awesome ‘’ Elly Sams
We set up a focus group which consisted of Eleven students ,seven being male and four female. We didn’t give them a questionnaire instead we let the group watch the video once beforeasking them the questions. We felt this method was far more superior over the traditional questionnaire as it really puts the person on the spot which means we get there true feelings about the media product. The point of this group was to find out if our group enjoyed the video and to see if they actually understood the meaning of the video or not. We questioned the group individually , with great results . Everyone seemed to have an opinion on the video, which usually integrated with the meaning we intended to give and the audience identifying with the characters on the screen. This was the idea of them being young, rebellious , edgy male members of our particular group . It worked in the main as some of the group identified with that image. Niall an intelligent ,down to Earth 17 year old from Kilburn , North London stated that “ These guys where living the dream , who would not want to be a rockstar?”
The questions we asked were:
Did you like the choice of song? Like that kind of music etc...
How do you think the band was represented?
What qualities (in terms of the band members as individuals) came through the most?
Did you locate any kind of message within the images and the narrative?
If you could compare their image, style and song choice to anyband - who would it be?
Were there any blatant inspirations in terms of their image and style that you pickedup on?
Do they seem like the kind of band you would be interested in? I.e. purchase a Dd, see them in concert etc...
In terms of the theory of Blumer and Katz on “Uses and Gratifications” We tried to use it to acesss our audiences response. Blumer and Katz say that audiences respond in four ways . The question was did ours respond to our pop video in this way . Blumer and Katz identify four ways that the media is used or gives.These are;
Diversion (a form of escape from everyday mundanity), Personal Relationships (companionship via TV personalities and characters), Personal Identity (the comparison’s draw
n between the characters and your own life) and Surveillance (a supply of information concerning the welfare of the world). In terms of our pop video, we had diversion which appears when the audiences watches the video and relates to the idea of being free and having fun , fame and fortune . Being a rock star is a job that many people relate to the idea of Instead they are trapped in this never-ending loop of a nine to five job that they loathe. They use the video as a form of escapism to get away from reality even if it is just for a few minutes.
Stuart Hall suggests a theory that producers enco
de a preferred message that the audience proceeds to decode in any one of three ways. These ways are either the audience accepting the preferred meaning, or they become oppositional readers, rejecting the preferred message, or negotiated readers, wherein they decipher their own meaning. The pop video has a preferred meaning , the band are an edgy , rebellious rock band who wont let any one tell them what is right. The narrative in the video is about the world being an open and expansive place , that you just have to make that one step into and go for it. There is no time for holding back and seeing what the futures brings for you , instead you have to reach forward and live your life to the best it possibly can be . Enjoy it as you only live once. In our focus group it was only the males who actually interpreted this meaning and connected to the semiology of it . The females felt it was sexi
st in the way we portrayed the girls as drinking with the band , and the idea of them all being ‘’groupies’’ to the band .
I was skeptical at first but I feel that the perform
ance and documentary parts of video worked well together yet wouldn’t have been so effective by them selves. I wished that we could of shot the band in a real urban location in London in a old abandoned factory since I feel that the studio doesn’t feel to grimy or edgy which detracts from the bands image we were trying to convey. From audience feedback I also feel that the documentary element of the band traveling between shows could have been made more interesting since it becomes to similar when showed over and over. Alternatively another element could have been added to create more a
narrative in the music video and maintain interest in the video. However I felt from the focus group we managed to get the message of enjoying life and living your life to the maximum potential as you only life once. Many people connected with this ideaology and I think connected to the members of the group .
