Focus Group

Our activity for today was to design and ask some questions to a focus group, in order for us to determine what kind of things our target audience may want to see, including colour schemes, storylines, good/bad conventions to use etc. 

From my audience questionnaire I discovered that my audience preferred 'Domino' by Jessie J. Based on this we created a focus group of four people, and asked them questions to get further information about what they would like to see in our videos. The questions included;

• What do you think would be a good storyline for a remake of 'Domino' by Jessie J?
• What did you like about the 'Domino' video?
• Is there anything in particular that you dislike about music videos?
• What setting would suit a remake of 'Domino'?
• What are your other favourite pop music videos?

From the focus group I discovered that our target audience thought that a party narrative would be suitable for a remake of 'Domino'. The responses from the focus group altered our original desicions, because before the focus group, some of our ideas were undecided, as we were unsure what would be effective and create the greatest impact. However the focus group responses showed that a bright colourful upbeat image and atmosphere would be the best thing to create, as it would please our target audience the most.

This activity was useful, when it comes to the impact it will have on our finalised music video, as it provides a type of guideline for us to follow when we are thinking of concepts and narratives to follow.

Pop music video conventions

Our activity for today was to do some research into pop artists and analyse some of the typical conventions they have used and why.

The main convention that this music video is conforming to is the idea that music videos portray a narrative. It is common for a pop music video to include narrative and/or performance as it gives more of a meaning behind the song. For example the narrative in this video is about Katy Perry who is with someone who changes their mind constantly, and it makes her frustrated. The narrative here allows the audience to have something to watch whilst watching the video. It is apparent that this is a pop music video            convention because it can also be seen in Jessie J - Who's laughing now.

 
 I think narratives are used to focus the audience on the artists themselves rather than the lyrics, because pop music tends to be quite simple and straight forward and repetitive. Therefore the audience need something else in the music to complete the video.

Here there is another typical pop music video convention, that the video simultaneously changes from narrative to performance, yet focuses more so on performance. It is an opportunity for artists to make themselves the object of the music video yet include the narrative. This reminds the audience that the music video is from the artists perspective. This is emphasised by the lack of lighting in this screen shot, yet the main lighting is behind the artist to make her stand out to the spectator. It is clear that performance is conventional in music videos as we also see performance mixed with narrative music videos in Jessie J - who's laughing now.
While Jessie J has decided to keep her performance aspect of the music video in the same setting we still see the video cutting to her whilst she performs some of the song. This again makes the audience come back to the artist and are reminded of the intended message behind the music video.

Another typical pop music video convention is produce placement. In this screen shot we see a close up of Katy Perry to emphasise the fact that she is wearing Diesel sun glasses. This is used because it is easy to influence the audience as they begin to associate brands with a certain artist. When the music video becomes popular millions of people will have seen that Katy Perry wears Diesel, which is a strong way of advertisement. It is evident that this is a pop music video convention as we also see it in Jessie J - It's My Party: Here Jessie J is pictured holding the Dre Beats Pill, which again is product placement. This product placement send the message to the audience that this particular product is needed to have a good time. When famous artists are associated with big brands it makes their audiences idolise them even more.


A stereotypical convention of music videos is a dance routine. I understand this to be a fairly large and common convention as more often than not pop music videos include a dance routine, usually in a group. In this screen shot we see Katy Perry with a group of other 'brides' in some kind of dance routine to reflect the message of the song and the video. I believe this is a common pop music convention because it can also be found in Jessie J's song 'Do It Like A Dude', as seen below.
I think this is a popular and common pop music video convention, because it is visually pleasing. It gives the audience something to focus on (usually during the chorus, when the lyrics become repetitive), otherwise the audience are likely to get bored.


Another typical convention of pop music videos, is this idea of a fantasy theme and unoriginal setting. We see this in Jessie J - Nobody's perfect. The video is set in an abstract, abnormal setting. This again could be in order to make the video more visually appealing. It is apparent that this is a pop music video convention, because we also see it in Katy Perry's 'Hot 'n Cold' music video, where at the end she is seen walking with a zebra in what's left of her costume. I think that this convention is used because it makes the artist distinctive and allows them to stand out with their own individual style.

A typical pop music video convention, that is perhaps not so obvious, is the idea that at the end of a video that is partly/all narrative based, a huge collaboration of the music video comes together to dance/party for the last couple of chorus'. I can assume this is a typical pop music convention because it can also be seen in Katy Perry's 'Hot 'n Cold'. I think that this convention is used, as it is the last impression of the music video that will be left with the audience. It is essential that it maintains the upbeat and usually colourful theme if the video. It is also possibly the easiest way to end a music video, as it is generally assumed as a 'summary' of the music video. In both of these screens shots we can see a combination of most of the things we have experienced throughout the video, which summarises the meaning in the video.


Something that can also be found in pop music videos is the convention of an artist motif. This is something that establishes a pop artist as an idividual and someone memorable. For example Lady Gaga has her 'little monsters' and Taylor Swift and her 'country teenage innocence'. A member of my group Amy Smith noticed that Jessie J has a star motif, in which she pushes the camera away during her music videos, as though the camera is hand held. 
Below is an example of Jessie J's motif in action:

When we create our music video we will try to include this in our video, in order to be as simmilar to our ourtist as possible. This activity was useful, as it has given me some inspiration and possible ideas that could possibly be used in our music video, in order for our video to conform with the pop music genre as much as possible. These conventions will impact our music video as using these conventions will ensure that our video delivers what our target audience wants to see.