Focus Group

I have decided to arrange my Focus Group for Wednesday 30th September at 12.50 pm.

Institutions

Institutional Research

I am currently researching Regal Recordings who later joined together with Parlophone. It is the record label that Lily Allen is currently signed to, this company will help to produce my video.

It will have links to other artists in the similar genre that will maybe help to produce and distribute my video.

I will distribute and advertise my video and artist in magazines, in forms of adverts. To do this I will contact magazine publishers and distributers such as MusicMags. I will advertise my music in magazines such as inTune. I will also advertise a CD cover to my video and will aim to target all of my audience.

Lily Allen - Smile. This was Lily Allen's first mainstream video, Smile, it was made from quite low production values. The audience can instantly tell the maine narrative from the opening scene. She is sitting on the bed, eating chocolate, so the idea of a 'breakup' immediately springs to mind. The video then starts to flashback of the old times she had with her 'ex'. The lyrics also add to the narrative of the video. I will be showing this video in my focus group to get further analysis of it.

Chosen Song

Lily Allen: Friend of Mine. 

The song has a laid back feel and will be a good song to produce a video for. 

CD Cover Product Research

Questionnaire Results.

I handed out 16 questionnaires and asked 15 - 19 year olds. Through my questionnaire, i discovered that most of my target audience watch music videos on the Internet, on sites such as Youtube.

When asking about my target audience's favourite music channel, it was clear that both MTV Base and 4Music were most popular, I could consider this to help me decide on the style of music video that I want.

When asking about whether music videos should have a narrative, the majority of the people I asked decided that it was important in a music video. The narrative keeps the audience engaged and focused on the video. Therefore i have decided to keep to quite a structured narrative throughout my video.

My audience decided that both the artist and the video were both important, but the video keeps the viewer engaged.

My target audience read a wide range of magazines, which will help me when designing my magazine ad.

Questionnaire

This is currently the questionnaire layout that I am using.

I will now give this to 10 people, all of different ages and then post the results up, when they are all back to me.

Product Research

Meleka - Go. This originally was the song that I wanted to use for my Media Production, then I discovered the artist had made a video already. The video has quite low production values, and is edited quite well. However, I do not like this video as I think the narrative is quite unclear. This has a genre of urban, underground, funky house. The video shows genre characteristics of a 'club' scene. The is a relationship between lyrics and visuals, there are also close ups of the artist, showing her promotion and record label promotion. 

Kyla - Do You Mind. This next video has much higher production values from the previous artist. I think it has a linked narrative and appeals to its sociable and outgoing audience. It is the same genre as the above video. This video also has genre conventions, all of the video is set in a nightclub. Showing the typical lifestyle of the 'underground' genre. Their isn't a obvious link between the lyrics and the video. Showing that this video has not been fully thought out. 

N Dubz - Ouch. This last video that I am analysing, is quite different from the above two. This is also a UK based artist, but with a very different genre, i have chose to look at 2 different genres at the moment because I am stuck between two different song choices. This video is edited very well and has a clear, constructed narrative. Their is a definite link between the narrative and the lyrics. The genre is 'Pop'/'RnB', their are no dance routines, however we do see the band together. Their is also a inter textual reference to another previous song from this artist. 

My Initial Brief

Brief: Music Promotion
Main Product: Promo Video

Ancillary Product 1: DVD Package Cover
Ancillary Product 2: Magazine Advert

Genre of Main Product: Underground/Funky House/Pop
Target Audience: Demographic - Young Adults, 15 - 25, mostly female targeted. Psychographic - sociable, like the club scene. Into fashion and music. Lead an urban lifestyle.

Similar Media Products: - UK Artists Videos, attracting a young target audience. Low production Values.
Justification for choice of Brief: My video will be edited on imovie on the Apple Macs, the magazine ad will be edited using Photoshop. These programmes will enable me to make the most of the task.
Representational Issues: I think my Music promotion will include stereotypical characters of gender, the main 'Artist' will be a female. This female will be about 17/18 years old. This will engage my target audience with the video, and will enable them to relate to the 'starring female' because of her presentation and the lyrics of the song.
Narrative: I have chosen to follow a linear narrative, which may contain certain flashbacks of the protagonists life involving other friends and an ex boyfriend. The song lyrics help carry the narrative the video.
Creativity: My video will be about an independent young woman, making a decision to leave her partner, in a relationship. Not caring about life or certain consequences.

Challenges Anticipated: The limitations in this production task will include the low production values that I will have to take into account when editing and filming. Also, I will have to check the availability of people that I will film, to make the scheduling of the production process much easier. Lastly, I will have to work very hard when editing my music video to make it the best of my ability.
Digital Technology: Video cameras will be used along with Apple Macs for editing purposes.