G7: Audience Reseach Results - Group Discussion

First Focus Group Task - 15/10/12

• On 15/10/12 we held a discussion about our music video concept to get some feedback from members of our target audience. We played them our track and asked questions to get an idea of whether or not they felt our idea would work with the band and genre.
• In this discussion, our group told us that they though the track was a good choice as they could imagine it working well with a music video.
• After playing the track and telling them our concept idea as well as ideas for locations, props, shots and the style of the video, our group told us that they thought the track fit well with our video idea and our chosen genre.
• As we were unsure of the ending for our video, we asked our groups opinion on our two ideas. Our first idea is for the couple to break-up and the video will end with them going their seperate ways, and our second idea was for the couple to get back together at the end of the video. Because the lyrics of the song ('I am yours now truthfully') our group agreed that the video should fit with this and have a happy ending.
• We came up with some ideas for our ending based on these comments and how we could incorperate these into our music videos.
• The group liked our idea of having shots from the couple's happy memories in the past and the present day shots of them arguing.
• They suggested that as we are using the same location for our performance and some of our narrative, we could have some shots of the narrative with the band in the background using a shallow depth of field.
• As our group discussion was not as successful as we were hoping, we are all planning to do seperate discussion groups to get more information. For this we will ask more open questions to get more information on what our group thinks of the idea, rather than just 'yes' or 'no' answers.
• As our discussion group seemed to like our idea of the shots of the glass, we have come up with some other similar ideas that we may include. We will also ask about these in our individual discussion groups.
• We are going to ask them which of our ending ideas they think will work well with the rest of the video and some ideas on any other concept development.
• We have also thought about the lyrics of the song and what they suggest about the relationship between the couple. We concluded that it is about a couple who broke up when one of them discovered the 'truth' about the other but got back together. We did not think that it was obvious as to whether it was the man or woman in the couple who was not truthful, so we are going to ask our discussion groups if they think it is obvious. If they do, we may decide to include a shot of one of the couple texting or email the other to apologise. If not we will leave it as the couple arguing with no clue as to which of the couple kept the 'truth.'

Second Focus Group Task - 16/10/12

• As we had not got the response we were hoping for in our focus group on 15/10/12, I held a second session on 16/10/12 to get a better response.
• After playing the group the track, they described the type of themes, and performance and narrative ideas they would expect to see in a Bloc Party of indie rock music video. Mainly, they expected the track to be about a couple because of the lyrics. For these ideas, we were given the idea of using an urban location such as a club as well as the idea of the couple overcoming a difficulty because of the tone of the song. However, they expected it to end happily becuase of the lyrics of the song. Another ideas after hearing the track was for the video to be more of an artistic concept similar to videos by artists such as Gnarles Barkley:

The White Stripes:



and Moby:



•  After talking to someone who was familiar with the band and their past music videos, I was told that a conventional video for them may include less conventional ideas and techniques such as animation or super imposed images.
• After describing our concept to the group, I was told that they thought it was appropriate for the track as the song did not have an overall happy feel, but the lyrics and overall theme behind it was romantic. I was also told that the fast moving song would work well with the narrative as the course of the couple's relationship is being shown over a short period of time and it would create a sense of urgency. Members of the group also thought that our narrative would symbolise the emotions in the song. However, we were also told that we should include a more physical performance (a physical fight scene, for example) as the more upbeat chorus should have a change from the arguements.
• Overall, people liked the ideas we had for both the narrative and band performance as well as specific aspects, such as the glass breaking and the flashbacks to the couple's past. However, we were given the idea of showing some shots of the flashbacks to the couple before the song begins to set the story for the audience. We were also told that the video could be too conventional and we should come up with some shot ideas that would make our video seem different and stand out. We were also told that techniques such as slow motion or abstract shots of the band performance would look good. Building on an idea we were given in the first session of the band being shown in the background of some narrative shots, I was given the idea of pictures of the band being on the wall behind the arguing couple, possibly moving/performing.
• Everybody I asked in this session agreed that the video was conventional of the genre as it has a similar concept to many other music video. However, I was told that out idea seems powerful and as it is conventional, it will appeal to a wide audience. However, I was told that although it was conventional for the genre, it was not similar to any of Bloc Party's past music videos as they are more likely to make more exciting or less conventional videos.
• I asked the groups opinion on what we had discussed in the first focus group, such as what the lyrics suggested had happened with the couple and how we will end the video. Most of the group agreed that the lyrics suggested that one of the couple (although it is not clear which) had done something wrong which had broken them up before getting back together. For this reason, they also liked our idea of the video ending with a shot of the couple holding hands. We also talked about the glass breaking and many of the group thought that if the couple got back together at the end of the video, the glass breaking would oppose this, and we should change the idea of the glass breaking at the end. Some other ideas were showing a sped up reversed shot of the glass breaking when the couple getting back together or stopping the shot just as the glass is about to break.
• It was also suggested that we should not make it clear whether they get back together to make it less conventional. I was also told that because of the repetitive lyrics, we should fade the song our earlier and make it a sad ending. One interpretation of the lyrics was that the couple had broken up but the man (the singer) is saying that he still loves her. For this reason, as well as the idea of juxtaposing the narrative and music and going against the convention, some of the focus group advised us to end the video with the couple breaking up.
• From this focus group, I got a good idea of which aspects of our video our target audience thought were good and what we could work on. Our main criticism was that it was too conventional and that we should change something or come up with an idea to make our video stand out. We will think about this when story boarding and developing our idea to make it more unique.