Our target audience was quite particular, due to the song being in French; it was inevitable that only a small niche audience would be interested in the song and the band. However, the Jictar audience would be ABC,
A consisting of well educated and wealthy people; B being less educated but still wealthy; and finally C being the wealthy people. As the song is about a woman, and the main artist is also a woman, it was more likely that females would be interested in the product, although males could too as she is an aesthetically pleasing woman. The message behind the song could relate to many women, as it is about a woman being cheated on, and therefore then trying to make herself happy and proving that she is in fact an independent woman. The age range of the target audience would be 16-25, this is due to the content being explored, as well as the bright costumes and set of the pop video, which is visually pleasing and entertaining, therefore this age range would not only appreciate what is being explored, but als
o the visual beauty of the song. The target audience would most likely be quite intelligent and have a high education to understand the jump cuts of the video, however, because the pop video is largely visual, it could be possible for any level of education to appreciate it on different levels, because they can enjoy the colours without necessarily understanding the concept. The aspiration that would be connected with the pop video are that of the artistic world, as a surreal world is created, artists would appreciate the set design and also the costume.Unfortunately, the pop video was only on You Tube for two days, this is due to the production company who had its copyright took it down off the internet. However, in that short space of time,
the video had 23 hits, and 2 good comments. It was unlucky that the pop video did not get to stay up on You Tube, as while it was up there is was quite well liked, as it got alot of hits in a short space of time. Also, the comments that could have been written would have been useful in understand the success or failure of the pop video, and therefore could have contributed to what I learnt from audience feedback.We organised a focus group of sixteen teenagers, nine boys and seven girls. They were between the
ages of 16-18, which is inside our target audience; therefore this was good in finding out what our target audience would have thought of the video. In our focus group discussion, we wanted to find out, primarily, whether they enjoyed it, if they understood the message, how they feel the artist was represented and if they were stars in the making. We did this using open questions; therefore they could expand without being restricted to closed question. Our questions were as followed:1. What did you think of it?
2. What message did you get from it?
3. How is the artist portrayed/shown/represented?
4. Is there a journey? What does this story tell you?
5. What did you think of their performance?
6. Do you feel they are stars in the making? If so why?
7. Has it got a serious message about anything? Does it address any serious
issues? For example, men or women, and love?
8. Were you entertained throughout?
9. Did you learn anything or was it too confusing?
10. Do you feel connected with any of the characters?
11. Do you feel that we successfully got our ideas across?
12. How do you think we could improve it?
We wanted to create open questions, and ask easy ones so that the focus group could understand what was being asked of them. However, through the questions, theories were being explored, for example, question 6 about stars, is relating to Richard Dyer, and whether they potential stars. Also, question 8 is relating to Blumler and Katz and their theory of ‘uses of gratifications,’ which the focus group may not have been aware of, but we were able to get information that was useful in relation to theorists aswell.
The purpose of the questions was to find out information; however, it is different to a questionnaire. A questionnaire is when closed questions are asked, and therefore the answer can be straight forward and simple, simply answering the question. However, the focus group questions were open so that they could expand on their answer.
The focus group had similar reactions, partly due to them being of similar age and experience, and also as they are in a comfortable environment they share alot of their opinions. The entire focus group enjoyed
the pop video, and their answer to the first question was similar it that they “enjoyed it” and “it was different and original.” This was positive feedback and exactly what we wanted to achieve, as they realised that it wasn’t a usual pop video but had strange elements to it, and the world created was “surreal” and “ethereal” which is what others said aswell. However, a down side to the focus group feedback was that they were unable to connect with the artists and understand the message because it was in French. We knew this was the case when choosing to do the song, however, one student, a male expressed that he felt the message behind the song was that it was exploring that “traditional role of the male worker can no
w be done by women,” he believed this
The purpose of the questions was to find out information; however, it is different to a questionnaire. A questionnaire is when closed questions are asked, and therefore the answer can be straight forward and simple, simply answering the question. However, the focus group questions were open so that they could expand on their answer.
The focus group had similar reactions, partly due to them being of similar age and experience, and also as they are in a comfortable environment they share alot of their opinions. The entire focus group enjoyed
the pop video, and their answer to the first question was similar it that they “enjoyed it” and “it was different and original.” This was positive feedback and exactly what we wanted to achieve, as they realised that it wasn’t a usual pop video but had strange elements to it, and the world created was “surreal” and “ethereal” which is what others said aswell. However, a down side to the focus group feedback was that they were unable to connect with the artists and understand the message because it was in French. We knew this was the case when choosing to do the song, however, one student, a male expressed that he felt the message behind the song was that it was exploring that “traditional role of the male worker can no
w be done by women,” he believed this through the ladder sequence when the male artist climbed up the ladder, and the female came down. Therefore he thought that the message was about female empowerment, and consequently the independence of women. Most enjoyed the variety throughout the video, although some said it was “a bit random,” I felt this was something that we were trying to achieve because the artist is scrambling at ideas to entertain herself and make herself happy.
The two artists were a success with the focus group. They enjoyed their performance and thought they acted well and a clear bond between the two was shown. However, they felt that they could only be stars for a limited audience, as the genre of the song, and it being in French is quite particular to a niche audience.
Although the target audience is between sixteen and twenty-five, I showed it to my family to seek their approval and get a reaction. They enjoyed the bright colours of the costume, set design and generally brightness and happiness of the entire video. Whilst in the editing process, people were able to see us putting rushes together and therefore seeing our journey from the beginning to the end product. They felt that the concept was interesting, and the use of colour grading, green screen and layering added to the surreal world, and that it was a hard video to pull off, but felt we successfully did that.
The theorists Blumler and Katz had a theory of ‘uses and gratifications.’ They identified four separate outcomes that an audience can get from watching a media product. The first being diversion, the ability to escape from everyday life and enter into the world created. This was successfully done in our pop video; the abstract and uniqueness of the video meant that people could suspend their disbelief that the discontinuity could not be possible, and could fully embrace and enjoy what they were seeing. Secondly, Blum
ler and Katz said audiences can get personal identity from watching something, therefore relating to the characters, also personal relationships, finding and appreciating the relationships shown on the screen. This is true for our pop video as the focus group felt there was a clear bond between the two artists, which make them enjoy it further. Finally, information can be extracted through media products, in the form of surveillance, however, in the case of a pop video; we were unable to gain that gratification.
Stuart Hall has a theory of encoding and decoding. He argues that a media text will be created with a preferred meaning, which is the message that the producer is trying to send to the audience. In this pop video, the preferred meaning being sent in our pop video was that women can be self contained, independent, happy individuals who enjoy life .This is shown through a series of close ups and mid shots with discontinuity editing and coloured layering.
Hall says that the audience may give the media text one of three interpretations. The audience may accept the preferred meaning with a preferred reading; some of the focus group got, although they
knew it was about happiness, but not necessary the exact message we were trying to achieve. However, they may negotiate a slightly different meaning of their own, for example, that the artist actually appears slightly mad and irrational and therefore not independent. Finally, they could completely disagree with the preferred meaning, and therefore have an oppositional reading. However, this is almost not possible for the pop video as they cannot completely disagree with what is being shown in front of them because it is clear that it is a happy, entertaining video, which everyone, from the focus group to friends and family agreed with.
To conclude, the focus group felt that the pop video was successful and they enjoyed it;
they thought that much should be kept the same, especially the strangeness of the fictional world, and the bright colours and costumes. However, alot of them felt that they could have enjoyed it more if people were not “coming in and out of the cinema seats” as they felt it was “distracting.” The main
downside to the pop video was that it was in French, and therefore the message could not be completely understood, however, we knew this was the case when choosing this song.
The two artists were a success with the focus group. They enjoyed their performance and thought they acted well and a clear bond between the two was shown. However, they felt that they could only be stars for a limited audience, as the genre of the song, and it being in French is quite particular to a niche audience.
Although the target audience is between sixteen and twenty-five, I showed it to my family to seek their approval and get a reaction. They enjoyed the bright colours of the costume, set design and generally brightness and happiness of the entire video. Whilst in the editing process, people were able to see us putting rushes together and therefore seeing our journey from the beginning to the end product. They felt that the concept was interesting, and the use of colour grading, green screen and layering added to the surreal world, and that it was a hard video to pull off, but felt we successfully did that.
The theorists Blumler and Katz had a theory of ‘uses and gratifications.’ They identified four separate outcomes that an audience can get from watching a media product. The first being diversion, the ability to escape from everyday life and enter into the world created. This was successfully done in our pop video; the abstract and uniqueness of the video meant that people could suspend their disbelief that the discontinuity could not be possible, and could fully embrace and enjoy what they were seeing. Secondly, Blum
ler and Katz said audiences can get personal identity from watching something, therefore relating to the characters, also personal relationships, finding and appreciating the relationships shown on the screen. This is true for our pop video as the focus group felt there was a clear bond between the two artists, which make them enjoy it further. Finally, information can be extracted through media products, in the form of surveillance, however, in the case of a pop video; we were unable to gain that gratification.Stuart Hall has a theory of encoding and decoding. He argues that a media text will be created with a preferred meaning, which is the message that the producer is trying to send to the audience. In this pop video, the preferred meaning being sent in our pop video was that women can be self contained, independent, happy individuals who enjoy life .This is shown through a series of close ups and mid shots with discontinuity editing and coloured layering.
Hall says that the audience may give the media text one of three interpretations. The audience may accept the preferred meaning with a preferred reading; some of the focus group got, although they
knew it was about happiness, but not necessary the exact message we were trying to achieve. However, they may negotiate a slightly different meaning of their own, for example, that the artist actually appears slightly mad and irrational and therefore not independent. Finally, they could completely disagree with the preferred meaning, and therefore have an oppositional reading. However, this is almost not possible for the pop video as they cannot completely disagree with what is being shown in front of them because it is clear that it is a happy, entertaining video, which everyone, from the focus group to friends and family agreed with.To conclude, the focus group felt that the pop video was successful and they enjoyed it;
they thought that much should be kept the same, especially the strangeness of the fictional world, and the bright colours and costumes. However, alot of them felt that they could have enjoyed it more if people were not “coming in and out of the cinema seats” as they felt it was “distracting.” The maindownside to the pop video was that it was in French, and therefore the message could not be completely understood, however, we knew this was the case when choosing this song.
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