Focus Group

In order to collect some audience feedback on my final product, we conducted a focus group, which consisted in total of around 20 people. We did this by creating a group on the social network Facebook to communicate over the Internet and also spoke directly to some others too. The range of ages was 13-40. We felt this represented a wider audience and allowed us to see the opinions on the video of different aged people. All audience feedback was gained off people who regularly watch music videos and have a general interest in media.

Considering the genre of indie rock, do you think the setting and location worked well?

Lewis - “Manchester is a busy city so it ties in well with the video as there is lots going on”

Sam – “I didn’t think it would turn out well because it was filmed in college. The shots of the band on stage look real though so I was surprised”

Tom – “Shots in the car and backstage highlight the immaturity of the band relating to the stereotypes associated with indie music” Do you feel the video has a clear concept behind it; if so, what do you think that concept is?

Tara – “Feeling lonely”

Lewis – “Confusion. There are a lot of shots during parts of the video”

Do you think the video was a good representation of the lyrical meaning of the song?

Leighton – “The close up shots of the singer help you understand that he could ‘use somebody’ so yes”

What part of the video is your favourite and why?

Tara – “0.00-0.14 because the scenery looks good. It establishes the setting well”

Leighton – “I liked the use of black and white during 1.29-1.55. The lighting on the characters made it more convincing, like they were actually performing to an audience”

Hannah – “2.50-3.10. The face paced editing builds the song up for the guitar solo”

Do you think the camera work and editing are effective, if so, why?

Adam – “The fast paced editing of the opening scene matches with the pace of the music and makes it look like a real music video”

Leighton – “I thought the general camerawork was good. It was a little shaky at times but that’s understandable due to the convention of handheld cam. There is a wide use of editing, parts could be smoother”

Tom – “Yes theres a wide range of camera shots and editing techniques which make it look more professional”

What audience (gender and ages) do you feel it will appeal to most?

Tara – “I feel it would appeal to most ages but particularly our age group (teenagers)”

Tom – “Male teenagers”

Wes – “Everyone”

Can you identify any clear conventions of the rock and indie genres within the video?

Adam – “It is clear that the genre is indie and rock due to the live performances and dark tones which are regularly used in the video and other videos of that genre”

Helena – “Close up shots of the instruments being played”

Hannah – “The video is male dominated like audiences for the genre rock”

Lewis – “Face paced editing and slow motion. There is also lots of shadow used on the lead singers face”

Performance, narrative and conceptual is three styles of video. Which one can you associate with our video the most?

Tara – “Good performance”

Leonie – “Mainly performance but I can see the concept”

Louise – “I cant see a narrative but I can definitely see performance and conceptual styles in the video”

Are there a suitable number of characters in the video?

Olivia – “I’ve seen music videos with less characters in”

Lewis – “Having girls in the video would have attracted a wider audience”

Wes – “The video is based on the bands life therefore having only the band in it was suitable”

What improvements could be made?

Adam – “To finish the video and make minor adjustments to the overall quality”

Leonie – “There are points where the camera or editing jumps, other than this I can’t think of anything else”

Hazel – “I don’t think you need to make improvements to it, it’s really good”

Ryan – “Female characters”