Audience Research

Task 1: Demographics


Demographics is information that is used in the media marketing to classify an audience generally into age, gender, race, social class and other categories. They are used to pinpoint potential audience growth and to spot underperformance. All forms of media are targeted to certain audiences. Below I have included a demographic social class table which I found on the internet.

Social Grade A - Upper Middle Class

The upper class is a social group that has the highest status in society; they are usually involved in higher managerial, administrative or professional type jobs. When we think of upper class, we tend to associate this type of status with more sophisticated music, such as classical and opera. I managed to come upon a news article in the Hull Daily Mail which stated "While they found some genres like opera and classical music - which have long been the preserve of the elite - were most enjoyed by the upper classes,” Classical and opera songs never seem to have music videos, what would be the point? The upper class are seen as very busy, occupied people, therefore why would the artists create music videos to be watched by no one; this would be time consuming and a waste of money. Usually we can search a classical song on YouTube for example and find just an audio version of it or a video of the song actually being performed by the artist generally in an opera hall or somewhere like this. Upper class people tend to like this genre of music more than any other social class due to a main fact being that they can actually afford to go see the live performance which usually costs a lot to go see comparing to your average pop genre concert.

An example of a piece of classical music that has been produced and uploaded to YouTube is Beethoven’s 5^th Symphony.

 

Social Grade B - Middle Class

The middle class is a social group with the second highest status in society. People within the middle class status are usually of a professional type job such as a doctor, teacher etc. The middle class are not seen as ‘posh’ as the upper class are, therefore they tend to be associated with a wide range of music genres as it depends on different characteristics to do with age, sex etc. The different types of music can include; folk, jazz, blues, indie. I have chosen to represent this social grade with the Mumford & Sons - I Will Wait music video as this band usually sing in a folk/indie style.

Social Grade C1/C2 - Lower Middle Class/Skilled Working Class
These two different social classes are very similar especially regarding job status as shown in my social class table above. Both of these would relate to music genres such as pop, RnB, mainstream. I believe that these type of genres relate well to these social classes as people within can relate well to the lyrics and also what is performed in the music video the people tend to enjoy watching as they have experienced the happenings (usually songs about love or heartbreak etc.) All of these music genres are really upbeat, happy types of music. This type of music could be rejected by the higher social classes such as grade A as they cannot relate to the lyrics or it is not stereotypically what they would listen to as we would not associate them with these songs. I have chosen to represent these social classes with the Beyonce - 7/11 video as this covers all of these music genres and the people within these social classes enjoy watching her music videos and have time for them.

Social Grade C2/D/E - Skilled Working Class/Working Class/Lowest Grade Workers

I believe that these three social classes best relate to music genres such as; soul, hip hop, dance, electronic, rap and RnB, this is because these songs are usually relating to violence and drugs which we stereotypically relate to the lower social classes as they tend to live in urban/rough areas where all of these occur. In the music videos we also can see things such as tattoos and graffiti, which again we relate back to the lower social class as this is what they usually have or do.

 

Demographics are really important to understand when producing a product as the artist will need to know who exactly they are targeting their music at and by the use of demographics they can know who this is; what their age is, gender etc. The choices that the institutions make will change and impact on the song itself and how it is marketed to an audience, this is because if the institution make a wrong decision for example if they were to under estimate their target audience then the song will not necessarily appeal to the people they are wanting it to, i.e. if they are wanting to produce a pop song for female children between the ages of 12-17 and the institution end up producing a pop/rock song, this is not what children will want to listen to, especially if the artist that is producing the song never has songs that sound like this. The audience will show a lack of interest to the song meaning that the artist/institution will lose out on profit but not only this, they could receive negative feedback which looks bad on their behalf.

Like any other genre of music, alternative rock is sold/can be seen anywhere i.e. iTunes, YouTube, Spotify etc. This is because it is a very popular type of music genre as it appeals to a wide audience of people around the ages of 16-25 years old. People from within this demographic are stereotyped to be studying, going out or to parties and be at the most socially enjoyable time of their lives. It can be seen that the alternative rock genre is dominated by the male genre this is because the majority of alternative rock artists are males themselves; therefore this how the artists appeal to the audience. Alternative rock's target audience usually consume this genre of music by buying artists songs/albums via iTunes or an actual CD bought from a shop. They could even listen to their songs via YouTube, Spotify, Google Play etc. as all of these are easily accessible in order to consume alternative rock songs. The usual merchandise for this genre of music is things such as dark clothing as this is what a typical rock band usually wears (we would expect them to be wearing dark clothes, leather jackets, sunglasses etc. as this is the general stereotype). They also tend to advertise this merchandise on social media as their target audience is from the ages of 16-25 year olds, therefore these are the people that tend to go on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. the most. Social media is a great form of advertising anything whether it is merchandise or the actual song/album itself due to the wide audience that it reaches as the majority of people no matter what age have at least one social media account these days, although these people do tend to be of a younger age generally. The media usually represent this genre in a negative way due to the fact that rock singers can be linked to alcohol and drugs, which are obviously not the best things as if an artist was to use these, they would not be seen as 'role models'. If you were to look in a newspaper and research anything alternative rock related, there are not usually much positive. The headlines tend to be things to do with rehabs, drug overdoses, mad nights out with photographs etc.

Task 2: Institution Profile

A media institution is a company that owns a large number of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies and the internet.

There are many different types of radio stations which cover all music genres, some examples include;

• BBC Radio 1 - youth-orientated pop music and talk
• BBC Radio 1Xtra - Urban Music, Hip Hop, Drum'n'Bass
• BBC Radio 2 - adult-orientated pop music (classics & current) and talk
• BBC Radio 3 - classical and serious music, drama
• BBC Radio 6 - young adult-orientated music
• Capital Xtra - Hip hop and RnB
• Classic FM - classical music
• Kiss FM - dance and RnB

Considering the song in which I have chose does not belong to a famous band, the song belongs to my cousin's band called the 'Joker', therefore they do not have their music aired on different  radio stations yet. Although, their genre of music is alternative rock so if their music was to be played on radio stations it would most likely be played on ones such as; Absolute Radio (rock music), Radio X (alternative rock music), Planet Rock (rock music) and Kerrang! Radio (rock music). This is because all of these radio stations play similar music to what my chosen band do therefore their songs would fit in greatly. 

However, I think that Radio X would be their best radio station as this is the only one in which mainly focuses on alternative rock music rather than just rock music. On this radio station, artists such as the Foo Fighters, The Prodigy, Royal Blood, Kasabian, Oasis and many others within this genre or similar. I know that this product will be appropriate to this station as one of the Joker's main song inspirations are the Royal Blood's music therefore this means their songs will be similar in the way they sound meaning the audience will be intrigued to hear it. 

Task 3: Audience Research Questionnaire 

In order to carry out audience research, I produced a survey using www.surveymonkey.com with a number of questions for my audience to answer. I sent this survey out to media students at my college, published it on Facebook and also sent it to family and friends to fill out to enable me to get as many responses as possible.

I gathered my results over 7 days and presented them using SlideShare. In the end I had 20 people's different answers and asked them 9 different questions.

Audience Research Survey from ellierobsonxx

Analysing My Survey
Q1) In my first question I asked what the audience's gender was, 14 people answered they are a female and 5 people answered that they are male. This does not affect my music video due to alternative rock's target audience being both male and female.

Q2) In my second question I asked what the audience's ages were. 2 people answered that they were between the ages of 10-14, 11 people answered they were 15-18, 5 people answered they were 19-25 and 2 people said they were over the age of 25. This is positive feedback for my music video as alternative rock's target audience is teenager range, therefore 80% of people answering my survey between the ages of 15-25 means that I am hitting my target audience.

Q3) In my third question I asked if the audience enjoyed watching music videos. 90% of people said they do enjoy watching music videos, whilst 10% of people said they do not. Again, this is positive feedback as this means that the likelihood is that those 18 people will be willing to watch my music video when it is produced.

Q4) In my fourth question I asked where do my audience watch music videos, 17 people said they watch them on YouTube, 4 people said they watch them on Vevo and 5 people said they watch them on music channels. This is good as once I have finished creating and editing my music video, I will be uploading it to YouTube which seems like the most popular place to post it.

Q5) In my fifth question I asked my audience what music genres do they listen to, and why. As you can see from my SlideShare, 6 people said they enjoyed listening to Rock and 1 person said they enjoy listening to Blues. This shows that these two genres of music are not the most popular, however people do still enjoy listening to them. By analysing this question, Pop appears to be the most popular music genre, followed by RnB.

Q6) In my sixth question I asked the audience what would encourage them to watch more music videos. Some answers included 'narrative' and 'performance', this is good as my music video includes both of these.

Q7) In my seventh question I asked if the audience preferred a performance or narrative based music video. 30% of people said they preferred performance, 25% of people said narrative and 45% of people said they liked when the music video includes both. As I have previously mentioned, my music video is going to include both therefore this is a good start knowing people do like both of them being presented.

Q8) In my eighth question I asked what the audience enjoyed about music videos. One person answered 'The story behind the video' and another answered 'A good story that relates to the song', this is again good as my music video will relate to the song and have a strong story line throughout the video.

Q9) In my final question I asked what was the last video my audience watched and what did they enjoy about it. One answered included that the respondent enjoyed watching the video portraying many emotions, this is what I am wanting to achieve in my music video. Another comment also mentioned the amount of editing one video had, this is what I am hoping to do when it comes to producing my music video; a variety of editing/shots.

3 Initial Ideas In Relation to Narrative of Video

Conventions of Form & Genre/Textual Analysis

A media form is the actual product; it simply means the type of media text. For example, a magazine is different to a website. To identify a media form in film trailer, you would look at things like the voice over, music, clips from the film, date of release, actors and actresses and a mini narrative.

However, then media forms are split into genres, genre is the conventions linked to the form. It is the term used for the classification of media texts into groups with similar characteristics. It is useful in looking at the ways in which media texts are organised, categorised and consumed/For example in music we have pop, R&B, classical, rap etc.

In any music video there are always conventions in which we expect to see. These can include; the artist/band themselves, backing dancers, a performance (lip sync), editing to the beat, a narrative/story line, the actual song, costume/location changes, variety of mise-en-scene and cinematography.

For my chosen visual essay video, I chose to analyse Beyoncé’s Partition video. Beyoncé covers two different genres: R&B and pop. In any R&B video the main conventions can include; provocative dancing with a male and a female usually, urban areas, women dressed in a sexual manor, money, expensive brands, jewellery (usually sunglasses or chains) a performance and possibly dark lighting. Whereas in a pop music video you would expect to see bright lighting/colours, fun performance/narrative, links between the lyrics and visuals, upbeat/synchronised dancing, close ups to show emotion, however they still act in a provocative way to add a sexual mood to the video and make it appeal to more people; wider target audience. 

My two music videos I have chosen to write up my textual analysis on are; Rita Ora - Body On Me feat. Chris Brown and Katy Perry - California Gurls feat. Snoop Dogg. The reason I chose these two music videos was because Rita Ora focuses her music around R&B and Katy Perry focuses hers around pop, therefore this fits perfectly with my chosen visual essay video (Beyonce - Partition), as I mentioned earlier Beyonce produces both R&B and pop songs.

The first music video I will be analysing is; Body on Me feat Chris Brown by Rita Ora. I chose to analyse this song as it fits well with the genre I have been producing my essays on (RnB and Pop).

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In the opening scene it starts with an over the shoulder shot of Chris and dark lighting. We can see he is wearing sunglasses and chains; this conforms to the RnB stereotype straight away. Then when we see Rita walk into the shot, as they are both in a lift, she is also wearing hooped earrings, which again fits to the stereotype of an RnB singer. It is a continuous two shot throughout this scene of them having a conversation. When she mentions where she lives, we see a tracking shot of the halls and then a fast pace montage edit to show what is coming up in the music video.

In the next scene we see a tracking shot of Rita going back to her apartment, Chris then walks into the shot. Again, there is dark lighting, which could portray a sexual mood between them both. As she walks past each light, it shines on her face and then she smiles; this is showing her emotions and how happy she looks to have met him.

As the song begins to start, there is an extreme close up on Rita’s face and then the scene is placed in her apartment, a pan and a zoom bring us to Rita as she starts the song. Chris then takes his top off, exposing tattoos; again this conforms to the RnB stereotype. We see a continuous cut edit from one scene with Chris in to another with Rita in. The camera shows an over the shoulder shot of Chris whilst he is sat down, in front of him is a TV which has gone fuzzy; this could portray how he is feeling and that he is confused as to why they have never met before or how he feels about her in general.

To create a sexual tension to the scene, we see a close up two shot of them both in slow motion. Then Rita is exposed half naked with a flag wrapped around her, the scene then cuts to him half naked on the bed. This could show they want to be together in this manor.

He then looks through the blinds, the camera cuts to a point of view shot looking at Rita through her window, showing that he wants to be with her. “I just wanna feel your body on me”, whilst these lyrics are being sang, we see a two shot of the two of them against each other body to body which obviously conforms to the lyrics. There is then another close up montage shown however it is done in a slow pace this time to show the intimacy between them both. The scene then cuts to another fast pace montage of the two of them.

We see the camera looking at Chris through his blinds, then the camera cuts to a medium shot of her looking back at him through her window. The camera cuts continuously between them both to show what they are doing and how they are feeling.

As he knocks on her window, we see an over the shoulder shot of her running up to the window to see him before they both start dancing on the roof top; this shows the performance part of the music video. The scene cuts back to the two of them in a slow montage edit as they are against each other, which enhances the provocative mood. As the performance is shown between them two dancing provocatively, the scene cuts between the narrative of them and the performance.

The music video then ends with a two shot of the two of them on the roof top and a fast rewind montage edit which brings us back to the beginning of the music video where she is stood in a lift with him. This could show that the whole music video was based upon her fantasising about the two of them and what could have happened between them.

The second music video I will be analysing is California Gurls feat. Snoop Dogg by Katy Perry.

To open the scene of the music video, we are introduced to a board game known as ‘Candyfornia’, Snoop Dogg is playing this so it could show that he is playing to try and win the girls over. A zoom shot is used so we can see who is playing the board game, Snoop Dogg is also wearing sunglasses which conforms to his genre of music even if he is in a pop music video.

He begins to put the player on the board as if he is actually playing the game. As soon as the scene of Katy is introduced, we immediately see many bright colours, showing a childish, fun like side to appeal to a younger audience as well as an older as she is wearing a sweet themed costume, although is still showing her breasts and legs. The idea of the short costume conforms to the pop genre as in pop small outfits are usually worn to come across as provocative. Throughout this, we see long and medium shots to show her actions and her outfit. Snoop Dogg kisses his dice in the hope for some luck that he will win a girl in the end.

The scene then cuts to a tilt up of Katy being laid naked on top of a pink cloud, wearing glittery purple eye shadow; this is shown as a medium close up shot. Because of the bright colours, again this comes across fun and exciting. Even though she is laid she does act in a sexual manor. 

Katy and her two friends, who are the other board game players, walk up to the gingerbread man wearing again short, sexualised outfits. We then see them all jumping on marshmallows, this can show innocence but then is soon rejected as we see close ups on their tiny shorts and breasts. The costume used here is also provocative as they are wearing buns on their bras, which are supposed to look like breasts.

After the first part of the narrative, the scene cuts to the performance where we see all the girls dancing in their bun bras to the song. Even though they are wearing this outfit and dancing sexually, the scene is still made to look enjoyable for the younger audience by the choice of bright colours and dance moves. We then see her again laid naked on the cloud; this time the scene is focused on her eating candyfloss in a sexualising manor.

Snoop Dogg emerges from some animated gates with an army of jelly teddies, which can show innocence however they are all made to look angry and ready to fight. The scene cuts to Katy and her group of girls as they hand her whipped cream to place on her breasts; this is seen as a weapon to wipe the jelly teddies out, making the girls look more powerful.

To end the music video, Snoop Dogg is buried in the sand with his head sticking out surrounding by Katy and her friends, showing that they are the dominant gender in this music video and they carry the power.

Throughout the whole music video a lot of high and low angles are used to show the audience which gender is more powerful. This video also adheres to Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory as throughout, the women are seen as objects due to them being a sweet in a board game. The game is also controlled by a man which in this aspect could show them male is the more dominant gender, although as we watch the video, this appears to be false.

I believe both of these videos have their similarities and differences in the fact that they are both performed in a sexualising manor and the choice of provocative outfits and actions. However, the target audience for Body on Me does not seem the same as California Gurls due to the childish fun like in the California Gurls music video, whereas Body on Me is more intimate and serious.