Focus Group Results: Notes made by participants

This post includes the notes that the group participants made during the focus group and what they thought about select videos and tracks; along with any other videos we could look at for inspiration. From the notes that the group participants made and the discussion we had, it was brought to our attention that much of what we have discussed previously (between our group; ie. me, Sam and Mark) is the general view from the niche audience also. This therefore confirms that we are on the right track although further thought has to be taken to tweak our ideas to fully satisfy the expectations of the audience. Our group had already come up with the idea of a black and white style with small bursts of colour to emphasise specific aspects of the video and this idea was strongly reinforced from the focus group who all mentioned the idea without being prompted by us.

We also gained an insight into their expectancy of performance shots of which they inferred that they expect to see the band playing using filter shots during a strong narrative using close-ups on the bands faces (particularly the lead vocalist) and close-ups/extreme close-ups on the bands instruments; e.g. the hands hitting the strings of the guitar. It was interesting to find that much of our ideas that we, as a group, presented on individual moodboards came into the minds of the participants in the focus group via their initial reactions to our track. Also, it came to our attention that there is a need for a reflection in the music video of the lyrics is a good idea to use within our video; however it can be very loose and the focus group like the idea of it appearing in text form during the video; e.g. splashed across a wall that the lead vocalist walks past during the narrative or being displayed as actually coming out of his mouth whilst singing. Overall, the focus group was extremely helpful and helped us greatly in gaining an insight into the needs and expectation of the niche audience we aim to appeal our music video to.

We Are Scientists - Lousy Reputation (track only)
- Shots of instruments being played
- Shots of band in open space
- Serious
- Black and White (with few colours showing through)
- Narrative with band shots
- School life - montage of school kids
- Lots of cuts back to the band
- Zombies
- Statues coming to life and attacking
- Performance shots on stage
- Large open space
- Low Key lighting
- Shots of the singer
- Showing just the singer without the band
- Coloured spot lights on stage
- Dark, dull colours
- Echo effects
- Monotone
- Strobe effects
- Comical and funny story
- Need performance shots
- Skinny jeans, etc.

Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (track with video)
- Simple
- No need to worry about actors
- Reflects the music - fashionable
- Aimed at young people
- Covers lots of ideas but isn't over-complicated
- Lyrics on screen
- Good use of colour
- Black and white with bright colours works well
- Needs more performance shots
- On-screen lyrics looks good
- Going into things (legs) at start; then back out at the end
- Not seeing their faces is good but in Lousy Reputation would be better to see all of them
- Switching from film to graphics
- Entrance and exit are good
- Clean setting
- T-Shirt idea is awesome
- Like idea of black and white background with colour for writing: looks cool
- Graphics are amazing

Foo Fighters - The Pretender (track with video)
- Like band shots
- Close-ups with far away shots look good
- Integrate band with narrative ideas
- Big empty space
- Like the way band is in colour and other people are black and white
- Paint water covering band is really good
- Good build up to the end
- Switching from faces to instruments to whole band
- Looking up at artist
- Sets the scene then brings in another character
- Doesn't loose your interest
- Subtle effect, red wall object is overlooked until end when becomes a main part of the video
- Slow-mo in a fast part of the song
- Single singer-no band
- Too bright
- Can't see walls, fades out, seems brighter
- Over-cranked performance
- Blurry all around the singer
- Destroying instruments
- Band walking in
- Faceless police compared to personality of the band
- Lyrics work well with narrative: "What if i say I'm not like the others?"
- Boring and Unoriginal
- RED with black and white theme
- Unrelated to lyrics
- Attention on performance

Possible Videos to look at...

Videos showing friends having fun together (meta-narrative and star persona construction)...
OK GO - Here we go

The Libertines - Don't Look back into the sun
Contemporary and Post-Modernism style of video...
Black Hole Sun


(Appendix 6b)