How has your target market research affected your music video production decisions?

During the planning of my products I carried out some target audience research to find out their preferences, this helped me to shape my final products in such a way that appealed to them. I asked a sample of females age 16-21, what their preferred genre was, favorite music artists, importance of the music video and how they find out about new music. I also pushed for an opinion on the reggae genre because I was interested in this genre from the beginning, being a genre I enjoy listening to myself and being in my target audience I hoped they'd feel similar. As well as asking my immediate target audience, I also asked males of a similar age, because I figured they would be a secondary target audience, it was also interesting to compare between the two.

One main difference I found was the difference in preferred genre, the males much in favour of Rap, R&B and Dubstep with the likes of artists such as Dappy, Zeds Dead, Skrillex and Knife Party. Whereas my female audience said they enjoyed Reggae, Dancehall and R&B with the likes to artists like Shaggy, Rhianna, Rudimental, Major Lazer and Sean Paul. I also pushed them all for an opinion on Reggae music, they all said they did enjoy it when they listened to it, they liked the way it was fun and upbeat making them feel summery and positive. Some were unsure of what the reggae genre included but when given example artists they admitted they did listen to Reggae music on a regular basis without being aware of it. This helped to confirm for me the Reggae genre I already wanted. When choosing my song I came across the summery fusion between Reggae and R&B of Ms Dynamite and Shy FX, I thought this was perfect, meeting the wants of my female target audience but also compromising with the requirements of my secondary male audience also, which I felt was important.

Another thing I asked my audience is how they discovered new music, they all seemed to use top charts on both TV and Radio, often recommendations from friends, online for upcoming artists, SoundCloud, YouTube etc - looking at other songs by favorite or related artists. When designing my ancillary texts I felt it was important that the album featured other popular artists, that way when they are searching through favorite artists on websites they would come across this single/music video because they are featured in the song. This research also concluded that the way we discover new music is very much digital, therefore I felt it was necessary to include a web address in my texts to create a more interactive approach, engaging the audience with the artist further.

I also discussed the importance of a music video, and what they felt is vital for a music video to include. There was a very mixed opinion on the importance being that some said they didn't bother watching and only wanted to listen to the music, however others felt it was helpful because it allowed them to use sites such as YouTube to discover new music and that they were key to an artists success, helping them to grow in popularity and become recognised.

As predicted, the males felt that sexualising women was a key aspect, the female audience also felt that having attractive male and female models were vital. Overall they felt that it was necessary to feature the artist to help create a strong artist persona, they preferred the fun, exciting videos to the slower more emotional ones. They also liked a narrative music video to help engage the viewer to make it more memorable. Typical to the target audience, they said they also enjoyed a performance based music video as they liked to visit gigs and festivals and they enjoyed the feeling that they are being performed to in a music video.

How my video compares
With my music video I included an attractive female model to appeal to both males and females, she was used predominantly throughout to create a strong artist persona. I believe that I have made the video fun and engaging, including a difference in editing pace to link with the music, various effects and also a summery feel which automatically gives it a happier, more exciting vibe! Although my audience liked the idea of a narrative in the video, I went against this in some sense that there wasn't a specific, obvious narrative to it. However, I filmed it in such a way that when put along side the music, you can make assumptions that the artist is 'in love' and on 'Cloud 9' because of this mysterious man figure in her life. By not including the male figure allows for the viewer to imagine, creating their own idea male persona, which will ideally appeal to my overall female audience. My music video is also very performance based, from my research I felt that it was important to engage with the audience by creating a 4th wall, meaning the artist is almost specifically performing to the individual viewer, this will help to build a strong fan base.

Other aspects that my target audience felt was important was the idea of money and power; fancy clothing; women; fast cars and aspirational locations. However, a few people said that they didn't like the way artists show off and brag about the money and power they have, and felt they would prefer something that they could relate to, with less materialisation, less sexualisation of women and more positive hidden messages and story lines.
I feel I have incorporated most of these ideas within my final music video. My artist (Saffron) doesn't necessarily have money or power, however, you can see a sense of dominance by the way she acts and looks positive and happy, this perhaps might represent a dominance within the music industry.
She is an attractive model, dressed in nice summery looking clothes in some sense making the audience aspire to be like her, she also wears sunglasses which shows confidence and highlights the aspirational location of a sunny beach! Although the music video is set on nice sunny beaches and in a swimming pool environment, rural, derelict areas are also shown, which helps to humanise the artist helping her to be more easily relatable to my target audience and taking away that materialistic approach that many other music videos are.

I strongly agreed with having less sexualisation of females in my music video, so although I included images of my artist wearing skimpy outfits, she was covered enough to make it tasteful and go against the conventions that a woman is just an object within a video and that she actually had the power and dominance. She still has the feminine emotions of feeling in love and her emotional state being controlled by the man she describes as her 'King' in the Cloud 9 song. And again I feel that I have incorporated the aspect of a hidden message, leaving the viewer to decide on the perspective they see the video and what they gain from it.

To maximise viewer engagement I introduced a narrative. The video starts with an emotional letter from her boyfriend who is away fighting for his country and soon to return. Then throughout the video short text messages appear to update the artist on his journey back home, for example, 'only a day to go', 'boarding the plane' and 'just landed'. The viewer is hoping he arrives safely and they can be reunited, explaining the lyrics 'feeling high, high, high'.