Evaluation

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E    Evaluation

     The research has not only established what our target audience enjoy in a music video, but also, who are target audience is. It is vital to identify who our target audience is so that we can adapt our music video according to their preferences so that it appeal to them. If we weren't to recognise who our target audience were, our music video wouldn't be tailored to their needs and therefore it has little chance of appealing to anyone.

      We carried out 2 pieces of research; questionnaire and vox pops. We surveyed 40 people in total, 20 being male and the other half being female. This gives us a balance regarding what each gender favours to see in a music as what a boy wants from a music video may differ from what a girl wants. We choose to question 40 people as this a an effective representation of our target audience, as our artist appeals to a niche target audience. We then split our sample into 5 categories according to their age; 10-16, 17-21, 22-30, 31-40 and 41-50 so that we had a variation regarding age and therefore a wider range of opinion. Our questionnaire addressed the main components that construct a music video so that our target audience could state their preference regarding each attribute. From the questionnaire we discovered that our target audience favoured the indie genre, solo artists, simplistic music videos, performance and narrative based music videos and also prefer when the artist is present in the music video; in which this gives us a basic outline as to what our target audience desire in a music video.
   
      For our voxpops, we interviewed 5 people on camera in regards to 5 more detailed qualities of the music videos in comparison to our questionnaire. In the interview we asked each person:
   
      Do you like to be able to relate to an artist?
      Where do you like to watch music videos?
      Do you prefer to see the artist in the narrative?
      Do you prefer a simple or complex video?
      Have you heard of the artist Nina Nesbitt? If yes, do you enjoy her music?

·        Overall, the vox pops were successful in providing us with a more in depth perspective as to what our target audience favoured. We have decided to discuss the first 3 questions in regard to the results we received and how this will assist us in our planning process:

Question 1: Do you like to be able to relate to an artist? 

      Answers: 'Yes, because I feel more involved in the music video.' Mille Cooper
                      'Yes, as it provides and outlet and allows us to become involved.' Karis Myers
                      'Yes, it gives the music video more depth and meaning to the song.' Reggie Clark
                      'Yes, because it makes the artist more down to earth and relatable.' Sam Pearl
                      'Yes, because I idolise people in the music industry.' Dylan Snow

       From the answers we received, it is evident that all of the participants favoured an artist that they found was easy to relate to. Most of them justified this as they felt it involved them more in the music video, in which this suggests that they find such effective appealing, with Karis Myers claiming that this provides 'an outlet'. This is particularly relevant to Richard Dyer's proposal that successful artists appear to be 'ordinary' and 'extraordinary' in order to maintain the audience's interest. By having the artist as relatable, this allows the audience to build a relationship with them and therefore keep an interest; however, the artist is also famous and therefore this portrays their 'extraordinary' side. We will create an image for the artist in which the audience can relate to in order to emit such effect; the artist will wear simple clothes and the video simplistic so that the artist isn't portrayed as having a lavish lifestyle in which the audience cannot connect.


     Question 2: Where do you like to watch music videos?

     Answers: 'YouTube.' Millie Cooper
                            'YouTube and Music Channels.' Karis Myers
                            'YouTube.' Reggie Clark
                            'Download them on my phone.' Sam Pearl
                            'Music Channels.' Dylan Snow

     Yet again, there is a clear majority answer in which individuals stated that YouTube was the most common place they enjoyed to watch music videos. Reggie Clark said that he felt YouTube was 'easily accessible to watch whatever you want' for his reasoning as to why he favoured YouTube; in which this a positive. YouTube is free to upload any videos, it is well known by our target audience and evidently is a favoured distributor amongst our target audience and therefore we plan to post our finished music video on to YouTube. This also appeals to people such as Sam Pearl, who claims to download music videos on to his phone as YouTube also offers this and therefore our target audience who download music videos will still be able to do so if we posted it on to YouTube.

      Question 3: Do you prefer to see the artist in the narrative?

      Answers: 'Yes, it shows that they mean what they are singing.' Millie Cooper
                       'Yes, it shows that they are more involved in their art.' Karis Myers
                       'Yes, it makes the music video more realistic and relatable.' Reggie Myers
                       'No, I like the contrast between actors and artists.' Sam Pearl
                       'Yes, I like to see the artist get involved with other actors.' Dylan Snow

      Nearly each of the 5 people interviewed liked to see the artist involved in the narrative, with 4 out of the 5 claiming they preferred this rather than the artist just performing the song.  Karis Myers said that by having artists involved in the narrative, 'they are more involved in their art' and therefore this suggests a short representation of the artist in which the audience can interpret in order to feel like they know them better, deepening their relationship with the artist and in turn is appealing to the audience. However, Sam Pearl said that he preferred the artist to be separate from the narrative as he enjoys the 'contrast between actors and artist' in which this opposed with the majority opinion. Therefore we plan to interpret both sets of opinions in our music video in order to appeal to a wider range of people. We plan to have the artist involved in the narrative as well as her performing the song and therefore disconnected from the narrative at parts of the music video. The artist will be both singing about her relationship and showing the audience her relationship. This also will appeal to Dylan Snow, as he said he likes 'to see the artist involved with other actors', in which there will be an actor to play the artist's boyfriend.

      By knowing our target audience's opinion in more detail, this allowed us to understand their favoured attributes of a music video. However, if we were to do the vox pops again, we could improve them by furthering our range of people regarding age. Our sample consisted of 13-19 year olds and therefore we only have deeper understanding regarding opinion in a limited age range. Therefore if we were to ask older people, we would know their preferences as well as the younger people's opinion.
                  

         Subculture

      The Sub-Culture theory is another element in which had to be considered while planning our music video and therefore reflected in our final product. A subculture can be defined as a group of people who are united through a common value system and tastes i.e. clothes, music, politics. It is a group of people who are also positioned outside of the mainstream conventions. The three subculture theories that we looked at were:

      Grant McCracken:

      McCracken proposes the post modern world is full of diversity, dynamism and creativity. he says that if we look at the array of values and ideologies then we can't say all subcultures come from one culture. They are not rebelling from the mainstream rather creating artists and genres that are diverse, dynamic or creative.

      CCCS:
     
      This theory assumes that all subcultures come from one culture as a reaction to the mainstream. They are fed up of listening to mainstream artists and genres and therefore rebel against them and in turn, create a subculture.

      Hebdige:

Hebdige concluded that some people think subcultures only appear to be different but deep down they are the same, if you look deeper, there is enough richness to rename 'subcultures' to 'little cultures' because they have the same values.

     
      The theory that applies to our music video: CCCS

This theory applies to our music video as the genre in which we have decided to use has evolved as a result of people being 'fed up' of listening to mainstream artists and genres. Mainstream genres such as Pop and RnB produce artists that are over the top in order to appeal to the audience. However they fail to have qualities that are easy to relate to, and therefore Indie provides this as artists are typically simple and down to earth.


This post demonstrates a good understanding of the different primary research that you have carried out. You have evaluated your research well, but you now need to start to explain how your research will assist you with planning your music video. This can be achieved by focusing on the style of your video.

You have also explained the different sub culture theories well and have chosen one theory that relates to your music video. However, this needs to be explained in further detail, by focusing on the style and content of your music video.