Feedback from focus group

So far we have only carried out a focus group with one group which is our own media class of year 13's. The session was very helpful however, as we asked a range of questions which aided our initial ideas of how we were going create a music video for the genre of RnB. I had created a consent form so that the class were happy to take part and Eboni created a power point of visual aids which included pictures of RnB artists and extracts of music videos from these artists. Together we asked the questions and gained lots of useful feedback.

To begin the session, we informed the group about the background of RnB with some information about general conventions and how it had changed over time. We asked what the audience already knew about RnB and who their favourite artists were in general to see if anyone's favourite artist was in fact, an RnB artist. This was not the case however, once we discussed certain artists from this genre, it appeared that they were still very popular with our group.

Within the extracts that we showed, there were some older RnB videos mixed with some newer ones and so we could show this comparison to our audience. When asked which type of RnB was better, the audience response was generally that an older type video was preferred as they gave more of a sense of reality.They didn't like the newer videos as they focussed more of wealth and success which came across arrogant as well as the desirable, sexual representation of women which was not approved by many.

A question that I proposed was 'do you think that you will prefer a video more if the artist performing is the same gender as you?' There were mixed responses to this question as in the RnB genre, most songs are made and performed by men which tend to target the female audience however, there may be less focus on the artist in the video and therefore people of the same gender as the artist may just enjoy the music itself. We therefore could understand who our audience would be with the resources and performers that are available to us.

Another question that was put forward questioned whether narrative videos were more popular or performance based videos. We showed them extracts of Drake's 'Started from the bottom' which is very much followed with narrative and compared it with Usher's 'Yeah' which is predominantly a performance by Usher himself. The audience were again mixed. Some people enjoyed the story telling element of the music video as it was something to follow however, the more popular choice was the performance based video of Usher as it focusses more on the song itself rather than a story which allows the artist to dance to his own music and let the music do the work.

Focus Group- Year 13

Uploading focus group (Issues+Finished)

After many weeks of trying to post our focus group to YouTube so that it can be shown on my blog, we have finally managed to start the upload. Previously, the file size had been do big or we had saved it in the wrong areas but now we have it correct and we are in the process of getting it onto our blogs alongside the actual feedback that we gained from the session. In order to get the video onto YouTube, we had to create a new YouTube channel so that it would upload separately but even when we did this, the video upload expired and we had to do it again. Luckily though, it has worked now and the feedback is now alongside the YouTube video of the focus group so that my posts of chronological and make sense when read. After we left the video to upload, I checked the YouTube channel on a desktop computer to find that the video was there. It was therefore a relief that after so many problems, the video is now up for an audience to see on my blog.

Focus group- Lower school consent

In comparison to the focus group that we conducted with the year 13's, this focus group will be more organised and structured as we used our media class for the last one. Our letters of consent with headed paper hadn't been created by this point and so I had to make one myself to ensure that the class were comfortable to take part in our discussion to help us with our research.

Our letters of consent are now ready and so we will use these to ensure that the year 10 and 11 students that we will do our focus group will be happy to take part and have the session filmed to be put on YouTube and onto our research blogs. The letters of consent now look very professional and each student that takes part can have their own letter to sign instead of everybody signing the same sheet as we did with the year 13 group. Once these letters have been signed, we can begin the focus group with the year 10 and 11's and use their ideas and preferences to go towards our research for the production of our music video.

Focus Group- Year 13 Consent and syncing

In today's lesson, Beth, Eboni and I carried out a focus group with our media class of whom fall into the preferred age range of our genre of music which is from 15-25. In order to carry this out, Eboni created a power point to aid our questions and give the audience an idea about our genre. Together, we asked questions that we could use information for with our research and planning to produce the best piece possible. Before we started however, we needed consent from the class with permission that they were willing to take part in the focus group to help us. Thankfully, the whole class signed the form that I had created myself and we were able to go ahead with the session.

The session was filmed on an iPad and so we needed permission for this to happen which we had gained from the class. Once we had finished the questions, the actual video lasted for around 23 minutes which was far too long to post onto our blogs and so for this to happen, we needed to sync the video to the Apple Macs so that we eventually edit out anything that we didn't need. To do this, my whole group stayed behind after school to sync the footage onto the Apple Macs so that we could begin editing as soon as possible.

       

Music Video analysis- Chris Brown

We have decided upon genre for the creation of our music video and we have chosen RnB. I can now analyse different texts from this genre to look at conventions as well as the differences between videos within RnB.

Chris Brown ft Tyga- Ayo

This video is typical of the RnB genre as it focussed very much on the representation of wealth. Artists are often arrogant about their wealth and this crane shot proves this showing Chris Brown on a golden sofa in a pool of money. This portrays a feeling of royalty and is a perfect symbol of wealth to prove that he is better and more famous than similar artists. It connotes the idea that he is far superior and many people will aspire to have this lifestyle.

More conventions are evident here as many RnB videos feature a woman or women which the males of the video use to symbolise their success. Typically, she wears very little clothing and conveys a very sexual feeling which is commonly created within music videos from this genre. A sense of romance is created between Chris Brown and the women that features as she walks around the house.

Here, a mid shot is used of Chris Brown as he raps to his song in a more performance based section of the video. He is showing himself rapping to show the audience what they can expect if they were to go to a live show. It shows that RnB videos can have performance elements with a modernised background rather than just narrative or a concept of money or success. We instantly recognise his iconography with the cap, jewellry and sunglasses.

A long shot of a man on a motorbike is shown here and this vehicle is often use as a symbol of masculinity as it is used in various RnB videos in Ne-yo's 'Closer' for example. It is a sign of wealth and success but also romance as a man can whisk away a women on the motorbike and take them to a better future. Females are attracted to these men and their motorbike due to the opportunities they see as they are represented as alpha males taking part in these activities.

Digipak analysis

Focus group changes

In today's lesson, Eboni and I spoke to Miss about our questions for this session and how we were going to structure it before we carried it out. After a discussion, we thought that it would be a good idea to focus the question more on the genre that we have now decided upon. We will now be more specific with the chosen question so that we can lead the students in the focus group to openly talk about their preferences.

In order to achieve this, we decided that we should change the structure of the focus group from just simple questions and answers. Instead, we will create a power point to showcase the questions so that we have put together whilst at the same time we can use examples so that the audience can engage with a text and then tell us what they like and don't like based on this. The Power point is a very useful idea as we can then transfer the success of it as well as the actual power point onto our blogs to state the questions that we asked as well as what we found from them.

We will introduce why we are doing this focus group and what it will consist of to the group as an introduction and then we will introduce a series of questions and videos to them.

RnB general conventions

Now that we have decided upon genre, I have researched the main conventions of RnB which I can challenge and conform to during our production of the video.

Character influence

The main factor in choosing RnB as the genre for our coursework was the fact that we know a performer who would be willing to participate in this sort of video. His name is Tavonga and he has already agreed to help us with the production and is the perfect character that we need for the video. This idea was always in our minds however, I still researched and analysed products from the Indie rock and the pop genre just in-case this option did not work out. We got in touch with Tavonga however, and he has agreed to perform for our video in order to help us put it together.

Tavonga is very experienced in the music industry and he has his own YouTube channel where he has uploaded videos of himself performing his own covers of songs for the public to see. We were aware of his talents and knew that he would be very helpful for our coursework if he was able to join us. Luckily, he confirmed that he was available and so RnB is our final choice for the music video that we will be creating.

Here are some examples of his recent work that we hope he will be able to effectively transfer to our production.

Focus Group Ideas

To gain more of an idea about who our audience will be as well as their demands, as a group, we will conduct various focus groups for a range of ages to see what they think. The focus will consist of the follow 4 age groups:

6 Students from Year 10 (Age 14-15)
6 Students from Year 11 (Age 15-16)
6 Students from Year 12 (Age 16-17)
6 Students from Year 13 (Age 17-18)
6 family members (Age 25+)

Originally, our focus group was very generic as we were unsure of our target audience and so we were planning on doing the groups using: year 8 pupils, year 10 pupils and a sixth form group. Now that we have chosen RnB however, we concluded that RnB would not be appropriate to talk to year 8 pupils about and so we required an older audience who would be more likely to listen to this genre of music.

As the year 10's and some of the year 11's are still under the age of 16, we decided that we should not partake with them in the session before we had a letter of consent from their parents to take part. After discussing together, how to structure this short letter, Eboni wrote out the consent form to send away to the parents of the 6 year 10's and 6 year 12's pupils that we will be interacting with. In the meantime, we will conduct the focus groups with the sixth formers and the older audiences that we have to gather their ideas and preferences together, before we can continue with the younger audiences.

Audience Profile

Genre Decision

In today's lesson, Beth, Eboni and myself came to a decision on the genre of music video and ancillary tasks that we will produce. We asked to go to a separate room to make this decision so that we could begin research on the genre in terms of audience profile and what we would need to include. Together, we discussed which genre from: Pop, Indie rock and RnB would be the most effective and realistic to create with the resources and connections that we have and came to the decision that RnB would be our final choice of genre.

We have chosen this genre because we are still in touch with a friend who studies music and would be willing to assist us with the production of the video. His favourite genre is RnB and we are aware of the qualities that he has to feature in our video whilst bringing knowledge to our production set up. There are now a range of research possibilities that we can look at to help plan ideas for the video that we will create. Pop was not chosen because we agreed that not many people would be willing to feature in this genre and we had the idea that it would be a little 'cringey' had we got the opportunity to create it. Indie rock was a good genre to research however, many of these videos are performance based and we would not have the people or equipment to put this together. With RnB however, the types of music video in this genre are varied and that can play to our strengths as we have a performer to provide the performance element if we need it.

Music video analysis: Pop

This is my final video analysis and is of the pop genre which is still in consideration for our final piece. From these choices after analysis, we will be able to choose which genre we will work with based on which would be the most effective to produce.

Pop video analysis- One Direction- What Makes You Beautiful

At the beginning of the video, a wide shot is used to group the band together so that the audience can identify that there are 5 male members. They are located at a nice, coastal setting which could convey the idea that the video was made for the summer and for the audience to enjoy in this season. Their costume is very summery with t-shirts and shorts that are predominantly white to portray this idea of joy.

Each member has their own verse in the song and the camera follows them whilst signing to give them each their own identity as well as being part of the group. This can be based at a younger audience so that they can choose their favourite and enjoy their scene in the video. A mid shot is used of Liam here so that the audience can see his face but this is done with all of them in the video,

Again, the boys are all pictured with one another to emphasise the togetherness of the band and harmony that they have when producing music. Here, they are playing football and playing the guitar so that the audience have an idea of their hobbies and so that they can understand how they seem to be very 'down to earth' and normal boys.

This two shot of Harry with a girl conveys a sense of romance and emotion within the video. This includes a sense of narrative for the audience to follow and enjoy because many people idolise Harry and may be happy for him in this situation. It is very import that the video has some sort of effect on the audience and in particular the targeted fan base,

Music video analysis: Indie rock

In order to come to a decision on our chosen genre, I have continued by research into existing music videos from the genres of: indie rock, pop and RnB.

Indie rock video analysis- Arctic Monkeys- Brianstorm

At the beginning of the video, we already know that it is a performance based video as the band are lined up with instruments ready to play the song. Spotlighting is used to highlight this formation and this creates a silhouette effect to make the band look classy whilst it gives each member their own identity rather than just focusing on the lead singer.

The video is carefully edited when it introduces dancers who perform along with the band to the song. At no point does the camera focus on each of these concepts for too long and various jump cuts are used from each of the dancers and the band which conveys the pacey tempo of the song. The dancing is aggressive to relate to the instruments used in the song. These are guitars and drums.

One of the various jump cuts does focus on the lead singer but very quickly jumps to another shot again. During this shot however, a low angle shot is used to show him respect that he is the main focus of the band and is idolised by many people within the fan base. It is also effective that we cans see him using the microphone and guitar so show an idea of how the song has been put together,

A key feature that Arctic Monkeys use here is a relation of visuals to the lyrics of the song. In this case, from Goodwin's theory, the visuals are illustrative of the lyrics as the singer mentions 'thunder and lightning'. A picture of this then appears in the video and allows the audience to decode the message of the song from lyrics and visuals. The purple strike is illustrative of the bands power of music they are creating and the ambition that they have within it.

Magazine advert analysis: Pop

This is my analysis for the Pop genre which we are considering for our final product. It is a typical magazine advert that contains key features of a pop poster. From my analysis, I can see that it has been successful by the key information and positioning of certain features within it. We would have to include this in our magazine adverts to make it successful.

Magazine advert analysis: Indie rock

This is my analysis for the Indie rock magazine advert that we may pick for our final product. I have looked at the features of the advert that make it effective and this piece in particular challenges conventions by not having the faces of the artists on the actual poster. This is something that I can take into consideration as it has still had a positive effect on the audience as the album was very successful.

Magazine advert analysis: RnB

As we are still undecided on genre for our music video, I have researched different magazine adverts from the 3 that we will choose from. These are RnB, Indie rock and Pop, This is my analysis for RnB magazine adverts to look at the typical conventions that I would have to refer to if we choose this genre. It looks at the benefit that the audience gain from it as well as the features of the artist.

Audience Theories

Exploration of related theory

There are various theories behind the creation of a music video which help to explore why they are put together.

Andrew Goodwin

One of the theories comes from Andrew Goodwin who identified 7 key ideas to creating a music video.

An example of a video with an intertextual reference is Iggy Azalea whose video for her song 'Fancy' uses a close reference to the film Clueless.

    

John Berger (1972)

Another theory that applies to music videos is John Berger's 'Ways of seeing' (1972) and he believes that the video will include certain features. One of these ideas is that 'Men act and women appear' which suggests that they conform to the tradition that women are passive and the men are the dominant characters throughout. Instead 'women watch themselves being look at' in a more sexual manner where they are only used for this certain purpose and not to be independent and dominant.

Sven E Carlsson (1999)

Carlsson's main idea regarding music videos is that 'One of the most common methods of analysis is to break up the music video into black and white boxes so that everything is perceived as opposites.
This can be a common approach to music videos in that binary opposites drive the narration of the video forward.

He also states that music videos can be performance based where the audience can see the artist performing or conceptual where the audience are made to watch something other than the artist. Carlsson created the theory that most performance based videos makes the performer no longer a performer. It is saying that performers are restricted in the way they can perform as they are being used to sell their voice, face or lifestyle due to the artist being a seller of their body image.

Music Video Analysis: RnB

As a group, we are still, at this point unsure on the chosen genre for our main product and so I will research and anaylise music videos from the genres that we will be most likely pick. These 3 genres are: RnB, Indie rock and Pop and so I will analyse a video from each to help make my decision.

RnB video analysis: Ne-yo- Closer

Here, the singer of the song (Ne-yo) is the main focus of the music video which is performance based without much of a narrative. He is dressed very smartly in an all black suit and a hat which symbolises his class and elegance as he performs for the video. This way of dress conveys a classic feel to the video which is also achieved through the dark, black and white backdrop where he dances. It represents him as a smart and cool character which the audience may therefore want to aspire to.

Throughout, a sense of romance is created whilst Ne-yo performs the song. A close up shot shows the 2 acting very affectionately towards each other which portrays this feeling of love that applies to the title of the song  'closer'. We can also see that he is wearing a white hat alongside a white background which can symbolise his success as an artist and the purity of his music and the video. Ne-Yo is instantly recognisable because of his hat which is consistent from his live performances and previous music videos.

This long shot of Ne-yo shows him handling a motorbike which is a very significant prop in the video. It portrays his wealth and success whilst showing the audience that he is 'cool' and powerful. Again this white background is used to extend the portrayal of his wealth whilst the motorbike could be used as a prop that allows him to get 'closer' to the woman shown previously in the video. Copy cat theory may influence audience to buy a bike so that they can aspire to be like Ne-Yo and share his hobbies

In this part of the video, lyrics are used on screen to coincide with the audio so that the audience can sing along or enjoy the song more. Ne-yo is dancing which may also influence the audience to dance along with him and connect with the audio and video. He is dressed in a more relaxed manner here to show a more cool and casual look whilst whilst still looking rather smart. The audience may learn the lyrics and then know the song which means that they will sing the song often and may pass this on to friends an an example of the two step flow theory.