To get a better understanding of what audiences know and like about music videos, me and my group made a survey to get people's responses. We aimed primarily at 16-18 year olds because they are the most optimal target audience since we are also 17-18 years old.
(We had to split the survey into two parts otherwise we would need to pay)
Survey Part 1
Survey Part 2
Here are the results represented in graphs and tables:
1. Please specify your gender
We did have more males in our target audience than females so it's not surprising that there were more males than females in our feedback. However males are typically more inclined to watch hip-hop music videos than females because of the dominance of male artists in the genre. We also want to appeal to the widest audience so having both male and females would give us insight into what they prefer.
2. Please specify your age
The ages we asked were mainly within the target audience but we also needed to include ages over 25 because music is a universal language that all ages can enjoy so it would be wrong to exclude them from our survey. We are also targeting a specific audience of teenagers so having the majority of people within 16-18 year old means that this audience feedback will be accurate in providing information about what they prefer.
3. How often do you watch music videos?
The fact that the majority of our target audience watch music videos 2-3 times a week shows that they have very good experience with music videos and can provide valuable insights in adding to our music video. On the other hand, people who haven't watched many music videos can also provide insight in what they like and the reasons as to why they haven't watch music videos.
4. Favourite genre of music?
This is a very important question and can impact further decisions in making our music video. Thankfully, hip-hop rap was very popular among our target audience so we're going to primarily focus on making a hip-hop music video. The other genres that were also popular were the romance genre which we will also implement into our music video to make it postmodern with hybridity. Adding hints of other genres will also help to appeal to the other audiences so that we are not limited by focusing on one target audience. We will also get honest opinions of hip-hop rap fans whilst also getting opinions from fans of other genres.
5. Do you prefer a music video with a concept?
75% of people preferring music videos with a concept is clear proof that our music video will also need a good premise to base the video on. Typically a music video needs a concept or a narrative to keep the audience's attention for a longer period of time.
6. Do you prefer a music video with a narative?
It was a 50/50 split on whether our audience preferred a music video with a narrative. Personally, a narrative in a music video makes the video more interesting and conveys a better message to the audience. Music videos are a way of the artist expressing themselves in another form of media, therefore a narrative would be the most optimal way of getting it through to the audience which is why we will include a narrative in ours.
7. Do you think the music's themes should match the video?
Again, 75% of people said the music's themes should match the video therefore we will include a romance theme with our music video in order to respect the audience's opinion. It will also provide us with a narrative and a concept to base our music video on.
8. What is your favourite genre of film in a music video?
People like to see the action genre portrayed in a music video. Since action is a very broad genre, we will have some comedic action in our music video because this will add to the postmodernism in our music video whilst also adding something new to the hip hop genre.
9. Do you think music videos are necessary in today's society?
The majority said that music videos are not relevant in today's society, complying with the Users Gratification Theory that consumers are in control of what media they consume and are active viewers rather than passive. However since the answers were very close in terms of percentage, we should still make a music video because it's a good basis to making our products more cohesive.
10. Would you want the music video to be the same length or longer than the song?
The majority felt the music video should be the same length as the song therefore we will follow that trend. It also makes our music video more conventional and similar to other music videos which will be good for familiar music video viewers. It also makes our music video more authentic.