Thoughts on Music videos - Video Interviews
This page focuses on a collection of video interviews that we made to further our research into music videos. We asked people at random about what they thought of music videos and these video interviews produced responses that we could use in understanding music videos and how they effected the audience. This research is all apart of our Primary research into audiences. This helps us build a platform of ideas and do's and don'ts when it comes to music videos from a viewers perspective.
The first video interview we conducted for audience research
Analysis
In this video interview we look at a wide range of people from different age groups, to understand what they look for in a music video because this will help our research into audiences. We first asked if they liked music videos, most of the candidates agreed that they overall liked the artist to make a music video because it displays visuals that links well with the lyrics. We asked if there was anything specific they look out for and they said a good production, something that catches my eye and something that is exciting and that makes you laugh. Some of their favourite artists were Bruno mars, Michael Jackson and artic monkeys – ‘because they set the marker’.
The second video interview we conducted
Analysis
We got a lot of audience information from all of these video interviews. Pop, dance music and anything in the charts is preferable to this candidate. The candidate likes Katy Perry teenage dream because it’s personal and because it’s relatable to teenagers and that specific audience. The candidate likes watching music videos that relate to her, but doesn’t mind if it doesn’t because it is still entertaining to watch – even if it doesn’t relate.
The third video interview that we conducted
Analysis
This candidate likes the hip hop and dance genre because it’s upbeat, fast and has a lot of beats to the music. The candidate’s favourite artist is Chris brown because the music he produces is fast and upbeat but he also has that slow slide to him. The candidates favourite song from Chris brown is ‘turn up the music’ because it has a small piece of narrative with most of it being performance based, but it has both. The candidate prefers narrative but it depends on the song. We asked if the music video relates to him will it be more impacting and he said yes.
The fourth video interview that we conducted
Analysis
The candidate’s favourite genre of music is hip hop. The candidate’s favourite artist is dizzie rascal and his favourite song by dizzie rascal is ‘something really bad’ because of the performance in the video and because of the way it’s made. The candidate says if the music video got good beats it appeals to him. The candidate prefers more narrative over performance because it’s more understandable and interesting.
Behind the Scenes - The pre production stages
Behind the scenes means the pre production side of things. Behind all of the video interviews is use preparing and rehearsing what we are going to say and do before we start rolling. Me and my group member Ryan Sewell scripted our questions so that they made clear sense to the candidate before being interviewed. Otherwise it wouldn’t have been professional or understandable to the candidate. We made sure that the candidates felt comfortable and relaxed before filming. We actually had a lot of outtakes with us just improvising the questions and making sure that the candidates got familiarised with the questions so they didn’t panic on camera – this way it makes the candidate more relaxed because they have been through the questions beforehand. The photo above is behind the scenes of us setting up the camera and tripod to make sure that we don’t have any technical problems while filming the interview. We made the candidate comfortable to talk freely about what she thought about her experience watching music videos.
Group Interview
Analysis
In this focus group interview we let the candidates talk about genre, music videos and artists. From this we gathered an understanding of some our audience’s tastes, and the reasons behind such choices. All of the candidates said they liked r and b, hip hop and pop. When posed with the question 'do you want the music video to relate to you' they said yes because it’s nice to have something in common with the music video, its reaching out to you and "I won't listen to a song that hasn't got anything to do with me". A music video helps you understand the song through the visual display. You never actually know until you watch the music video what the song is about.
Behind the Scenes - Focus Group
This is behind the scenes of use conducting the focus group interview. We made sure that the camera was setup and positioned in the proper place so that they were all in the camera frame. We checked the battery life and the cameras memory card just in case the camera broke down in the middle of filming. Once all of the technical devices were checked over we began filming. Again like the single interviews we conducted we made sure that all candidates were relaxed and confident to answer questions. We prepared them by rehearsing first. Once everything was ready we started filming and everything was a success. The photo shows use improvising.
Conclusion - Individual and Focus Group Interviews
From a wide range of questions that we used, we have furthered our research to a new level of understanding. We know what they like seeing in a music video, what their favourite genre and artist is, and what style of music video do they like watching along with how a music video appeals to an audience. From what we have gathered the audience likes seeing a narrative based music video because it makes the music video more understandable and interesting. They prefer the artist to make a music video because it is sometimes unclear to what the song is actually about. The specific things they would like to see in a music video is a good production, something that catches the eye and makes it entertaining. The audience also likes it if the music video is more relatable to them – because it is more personal and impacting. All of this feedback has furthered our study on Music videos and helped us get closer to our audience. We now know more about the audience and what they like to see.