What have you learned from your audience feedback?

At the start of my coursework product, I did some initial audience research into the target audience

of the Indie Pop genre, as this is the style of my unsigned band; You Are The Empire. I originally had

a stereotypical representation of such an individual consisting of someone whom; doesn’t conform

to any general style but instead, offers several statements for a single outfit, an individual whose

costume suits general vintage apparel, for example denim shirts and iconic t-shirts. Other music

genre interests consist of Indie Rock and Alternative genres which suit a niche audience rather than

listening to mainstream music, and someone whom favours music cultural festivals, thrifts shops or

Urban Outfitters as their preferred environment. After having collected my online results from a

survey I created on SurveyMonkey, my interpretation was generally seen to be supported however

the main differences were; the ‘typical’ Indie Pop fan was not assumed to regularly go to music

festivals, neither only listen to niche music genres but instead a wide selection including Pop, Dance

and R&B. Below is a link to my results:

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=36008552096444735#editor/target=post;postID=8864

715272107630312;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=31;src=postname

After an analyse of my results this allowed me to identify a theme for my music video that would

target my intended audience, that of a mixed gender and teenage audience.

How I targeted my identified audience

Music video:

My online survey helped me target my identified audience through the production of a music video.

One helpful question that I asked was; ‘Would you prefer the subject in a music video to be relevant

to you?’ From this, the majority of my audience answered “No, but I would prefer it to be relevant to

society” This therefore helped influence the subject of the music video, choosing the storyline of a

young girl committing drug and alcohol abuse as this is something which is hidden, but at the same

time still happening unknowingly in society amongst a niche group of individuals.

The main ways in which I portrayed this to my audience was through the use of props and mise en

scene. For example, the use of an internal setting represents the walls as a source of entrapment for

the young girl, suggesting themes of isolation by keeping the girl away from the rest of society. This

therefore classifies my music video as narrative-based, telling a story to the audience. This doesn’t

only target my audience by portraying a relevant theme but, from my survey results showed that

100% of my audience would prefer to see a narrative-based music video in opposition to either a

concept or performed-based. Additionally, the main character featured in my music video

production is a teenage girl. This therefore provides a relationship between the audience and the

young girl as both are of similar ages, allowing the audience to feel in the shoes of the girl and tell

the story from her perspective.

Digipak & Magazine Advertisement:

The deeper meaning behind the dominant theme was carried onto the design of both my print

productions, that being of the girls tight relationship with the alcohol and drugs. This is shown

through the use of a doll, representing the young girl within the music video, with an injection

planted into her face. This therefore allows the audience to establish connections between both the

music video and the print productions through continuity in the props used. I also targeted my

audience in this way, with nearly 70% of my audience preferring not to see the band in the music

production, a theme which I carried through for the design of my print productions. Initial audience

feedback also revealed that my audience would prefer to have productions involving both a colour

and monochromatic colour scheme. Having my digipak in colour, I addressed this when producing

my magazine ad, providing a design with a mixture of the two colour schemes. This was an effective

decision allowing the insertion of the needle into the girls face to stand out and visually show the

negative effect it has, being represented by a lack of colour.