We decided that the most effective qualitative and quantitative methods of primary research would be a question posted on FaceBook, in which friends comment and provide us with qualitative feedback. We also decided to construct a questionnaire in order for us to gain some quantitative data.
I believe these are the best ways to receive constructive feedback in order to help us make final decisions on our music video. FaceBook is a worldwide social networking site which is increasingly popular with teenagers and young adults. As they spend a lot of their time on this site, it makes sense to communicate with them in a way which is familiar to them. A FaceBook question allows people to elaborate on their answers and give detailed responses, providing us with more effective data. The only problem we may face would be if people don't take the question seriously and we don't achieve the results we are hoping to. The reason we decided on constructing a questionnaire to collect our quantitative data is that it is not time consuming for our participants. If they had to answer question after question giving long, detailed answers, they may lose interest and concentration and end up not giving feedback that is as helpful as when they have to expand on their answers. The closed ended questions allow us to easily conclude the results, giving us a better idea of what our audience want to see in our music video.
From these two primary research methods, we hope to gain data that coincides with our initial ideas for our music video as we will then not have to create a new concept. It would also be easier for us to make conclusions from the results if a majority of the participants agreed on what they would like to see, as mixed results would leave us to decide on different aspects of the video, which may not be what the audience like.
In order to collect our data, we will ask people of a similar age to us to fill out our questionnaire and respond to our FaceBook question as they fit into the age group of Mumford & Sons target audience. The questionnaires will be taken while they are on their own so they are not influenced by their friends arouns them. That way, we get honest opinions on what they would like to see in our video. The results from the questionnaires will be presented in pie charts, therefore making the results clear to everyone and easier to see what the majority agreed on.
Although we already have an initial concept for our music video, if it doesn't match what our audience have told us they want to see, then it will have to be changed. The point of a music video is to please the audience and attract them to the song and the artist; if they don't like the video, they are less likely to listen to the song. The data we collect will greatly impact our final decisions as the people who participate in our questionnaire and FaceBook question will be the ones who will watch our finished video. If we decided to completely go against what our audience have said, there would be no point in ever doing our primary research. These results will ultimately make our music video.
Initial Music Video Ideas
As a female student fitting in the age category of 14-19, my favourite music genre is R'n'B and my favourite artist from that genre is Usher. Although R'n'B is my preferred genre of music to listen to, I also enjoy pop and indie music with artists ranging from Justin Bieber to The Wombats. Currently, my favourite music video is Chris Brown ft Justin Bieber- Next To You. This is because of the interesting storyline and creative
costume and setting. The video is based on apocalyptic events, causing the artists to be separated from their loved ones and showing their efforts to be reunited. The use of mise en scene in the video adds effect and gives the audience a sense of surrealism as not many of the audience will be able to relate to the events portrayed in the video, however they may be able to relate to being separated from a loved one. I also enjoy this video as it uses a cityscape setting, which is what I like to see in music videos.
For our coursework, we have decided to make a music video for the song White Blank Page by Mumford & Sons. Before starting our primary research, we thought up an initial concept for our video. We decided on the video being narrative based with part performance. The storyline consists of a relationship between a man and a woman and the man has been drawn into drug use. For that, his girlfriend leaves him. A combination of the drugs he is taking and the emotional turmoil from the destruction of his relationship causes him to go delusional. Random images will be shown as his thoughts to portray his disillusioned state of mind. The opening scene will be set in a house/bedroom, showing how the main character no longer has his loved one with him. The camera will then pan the room to show the audience the drugs by his bed to inform the audience that they are what has caused the break up. Some performance will be shown of the band playing in a field/country setting to stick with typical Mumford & Sons music videos. The scenes in which the main character appears to be dillusional will be set in London as I personally like to see a cityscape in music videos. A lot of dark colours will be used such as black and grey, in order to show his mental state. However a few hints of bright colours will be used to show how the drugs have affected his thoughts and emotions, portraying chaos and confusion.
