Focus Group
Focus group findings/report:
During the focus group I hope to discuss ideas for genre of music - alternative rock or psychedelic rock as well as which genre of music video is best - narrative or experimental. Also engage in discussion about the content of the music video to help me move forward from planning to filming.
Participants: Group of 5 (aged 18-25)
Before conducting the focus group I informed the participants of my personal influences and visions for the music video. I explained how I wanted to use a song from the late 60's - 80's from the alternative/psychedelic rock movement as this has had a heavy influence on my own personal music taste and I want to replicate something which feels as timeless as this genre of music. I also discussed my questionnaire and the results I the main findings I had gathered from it:
1. Experimental/Narrative is the preferred music video genre
2. Experimental editing was favoured over fast/slow paced editing
3. Location was voted very important/somewhat important
4. Content should be something that challenges the audience rather than straightforward/easy to follow.
1. Which out of the two music genres do you feel will fit the most with the ideas I have presented to you so far? Keeping in mind the song Love My Way by the Psychedelic Furs for Alternative Rock and I Need a Man to Love by Janis Joplin & Big Brother Company for Psychedelic Rock
P1: I think that the Psychedelic Rock genre will be the best fit as you can be pretty experimental in terms of visuals.
P2: I personally think that the song "Love My Way" has a more smooth and upbeat sound and the vocals are also very 80's which would fit the ideas you have already come up with.
P3: I like both songs, but I think there is a possibility that a music video for "Love My Way" could be appear a bit cheesy because it's quite upbeat therefore I think I Need a Man to Love is a safer option.
P4: I really like the Psychedelic Rock music genre and there are a lack of music videos produced for the genre because it was most prominent in the late 60's and early 70's therefore I think it would be the most interesting to produce because you can be very creative with what you want to include and not be held to particular conventions within the genre that an 80's may have.
P5: I didn't really know of either of the songs until they were introduced to me but I personally prefer Love My Way because they 80's sound is very timeless and fun.
2. Do you think it's important that there is a clear narrative for a music video?
P1: I don't think it's essential but other aspects of the video may need to be stronger to make up for the lack of narrative.
P2: I agree that it isn't always needed but the focus should then be on visuals instead to compliment the sound.
P3: I think the narrative is important but it doesn't have to necessarily be obvious, it could just be hinted at.
P4: Yeah, some of the best music videos are based around quite dark or deep subjects therefore a narrative is needed so the message can be put across to the audience.
P5: I don't think a narrative is important for me. Music videos can be used to express an artist's creativity so really you can produce anything as long as you can explain the reasons for your choices.
3. What genre of music video do you think will work best: narrative, experimental or performance?
P1: I personally like experimental because they resonate with me more as they stand out from the generic performance style.
P2: I agree, because I think the performance genre is over used and can appear very cliché.
P3: I personally enjoy narrative because I like to follow a person's story like you would in a film. Although I don't think all music videos stick to just one of those and it's more interesting if you mix more than one style of music video.
P4: Yeah, I like the idea of mixing more than one genre.
P5: Maybe you could have some cool visuals as well as a person mouthing certain lyrics to break it up a bit and add something a little extra.
4. Do you have any suggestions for location?
P1: I like your idea of shooting in the studio because a projector would be able to produce the sorts of visuals similar to those on your mood boards.
P2: I agree, but I also think your idea for filming in Bristol is great because there is a lot of street art there and it would be very colourful too.
P3: Maybe film some images of trees or plants as I think that would fit well the Psychedelic genre like nature and then maybe distort the images to hint at drug use. Almost like a LSD trip or something.
P4: I definitely think you should include elements of drug use because that was such a large part of Janis Joplin's brand and a major influence on the whole Psychedelic movement.
P5: For the neon signs/lights you could go to somewhere like Foleshill Road in Coventry at night because it's always lit up with different signs so you could film quite a few shots there.
5. Do you think it's important for the visuals to match the lyrics of the song?
P1: I don't think it's necessary but I do think it would compliment the sound more if the visuals matched.
P2: I think it's important because it is easier to explore the deeper meaning of the lyrics from the images that are presented to the audience.
P3: I think it should match in a way that compliments the song but doesn't stop it from being experimental.
P4: I like to see people in music videos mouth the lyrics because it creates more of a feeling I think or at least amplifies it.
P5: I don't think it has to match as such but the visuals shouldn't be the complete opposite to the lyrics because it could be quite distracting or confusing for the audience.
6. Are there any other suggestions/ideas that you'd like to add?
P1:I think you should do more research/practice on how to re-enact the types of visuals you want to ensure you are able to do it.
P2: I agree, I think you should also be realistic of what you can achieve with a very small budget and also the timeframe that you have.
P3: Not really, I like the ideas you already have.
P4: I think you know what you want to do and I think you should stick to that.
P5: Not really a suggestion but I think it might be good to show someone examples of practice shots that you take to get a second opinion on what you have so far.
Focus Group Findings:
Question One: I asked this question because I felt that the results from my questionnaire weren't as conclusive as I would have liked them to be as the Alternative Rock genre was voted more popular overall but when it came to choosing between the two songs I Need a Man to Love was more popular among audiences. Therefore, I felt that if I presented the ideas that I had come up with so far before introducing the songs to the group it would help them make more of an informed decision. However, looking at the responses this wasn't necessarily the case as I still did not get an unanimous decision on which song to choose. Although, the discussion of why each song would fit my ideas so far has made me more confident in moving forward with my planning. I found the comment about the Love My Way song possibly coming across as cheesy interesting, as I hadn't necessarily considered this and it swayed me from being on the fence about the two songs and more towards I Need a Man to Love.
Question Two: This question was perhaps the most useful for me because I was quite torn between creating a narrative for my music video or to sticking to a more experimental approach which would allow me more freedom with the types of visuals I could produce. Half of the participants agreed that a clear narrative was not important and the others despite disagreeing, could suggest ways that a narrative could be subtle therefore not being the main focus of the music video.
Question Three: I asked this question as I wasn't 100 per cent sure on the contents for my music video and I thought that having an idea of what style of video audiences prefer would help me be able to make that decision. The response was fairly mixed as some participants stated that they enjoy experimental due to performance being over used in the mainstream whereas others liked the idea of combining more than one style of video which I hadn't thought of and is something that I would like to incorporate in to my music video.
Question Four: This question was also useful because it gave the participants an opportunity to express their thoughts so far as a whole rather than based around a specific area therefore allowing them more freedom to make any suggestions they deem necessary. I like the fact that they brought up the influence of drugs on Janis Joplin's music and the Psychedelic movement and I agree that this should definitely feature in my music video in some form so it is true to the genre. I also never thought of going to somewhere like Foleshill Road at night to get some shots of neon signs and I have now added this to my location plan for filming. Therefore, I believe that the suggestions made overall was a very useful source of feedback which has helped me move along with the planning process.
