Before conducting our research, we outlined an initial idea of our target audience (shown below) which served as a guide throughout our research. However, with our research completed, we can expand on this conception of our target audience and create a full audience profile, using the results and conclusions obtained through our research. This audience profile will be based on the five points we outlined at the beginning of the research as what we wanted to find out, which were:

•Aspirations after 6th form•Passions/ interests•How important they think music videos are (i.e. to what extent can they improve/ worsen a song)•What they think makes a good music video•What kind of ideologies do they think should be represented in music/ music videos

Initial Target Audience Profile:

Audience Profile – Based on Research Findings

Demographics

Age: 14-22Sex: either

Psychographics

•Preferred musical genres are rock/ indie-rock/ alternative rock•Favourite bands likely to be Kings of Lyon/ Oasis/ The Killers/ Franz Ferdinand/ Arctic Monkeys etc.•Likely to wear skinny jeans/ skinny tops/ checked shirts/ plimsolls/ pea coats/ retro clothing•Likely to shop mainly at Topshop/ Topman/ H&M/ Charity/Vintage Shops/ eBay/ American Apparel •Likely to go to gigs/ music festivals on a fairly regular basis•If male, may be in a band•Unlikely to do much sport competitively •Likely spend spare time with friends/ at parties/ listening to music•Likely to drink on a fairly regular basis, may also smoke•Likely to enjoy mostly British films; either social realism (e.g. This is England, 2006/ Billy Elliot, 2000 etc.), those about music (e.g. Quadrophenia, 1979/ Control, 2007 etc.) or unconventional (e.g. A Clockwork Orange, 1971/ Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 1998) •Likely to take some pride in appearance and a sense of individuality

1. Aspirations after 6th form

Our results show that a clear majority of our target audience (79%) intend to go to university. This suggests that our target audience are fairly ambitious about their career goals and we can also assume that, probably a decent number of them, are relatively intelligent and somewhat studious. This is supported by the finding that 45% said that they regularly study in their spare time, compared to the 39% who do this in the initial sample of 52 participants. However, almost half of those who claim to want to go to university also said they want to take a gap year (38% said they want to take a gap year and go to university while 41% said they want to go straight to university). This perhaps indicates that a relatively large number of our target audience wish to either take a break from full-time education before going to university or want to travel/ “see the world” before going to university. This is further supported by the figures that show that 14% said they want to travel and the 21% who said they were undecided, while the claim that our target audience are quite ambitious about their future prospects also supported by the fact that just 3% said they want to get a job straight after 6th form. What this tells us about our target audience is that they are a relatively intelligent, ambitious and open-minded audience, likely to have several interests – which will be explored in the next slide.

2. Interests and passions

Our results show that spending time with friends is the most popular pastime for our target audience, suggesting that they are a highly socially-orientated audience. The second most popular pastime is listening to music, which indicates that music is highly regarded, taken seriously and part of our target audience are likely to have a fairly deep knowledge about their preferred genre/ artists/ groups. This is supported by the finding that almost a third said they regularly play a musical instrument, compared to 17% who do this in the initial sample of 52 participants. However, if we combine the two most popular pastimes (going out with friends and listening to music) we can perhaps also assume that our target audience uses music as a strong social tool. This is supported by the finding that H&M and Topshop/ Topman are overwhelmingly the most popular shops among our target audiences (83% said that H&M was one of their most preferred shops and 69% said that Topshop/ Topman was one of their most preferred shops while the third most popular was Zara with just 38%) as H&M and Topshop/ Topman have strong links with indie fashion - as demonstrated in my post analysing ‘You’re Not The Only Person’ by The Rumble Strips. The fact that our target audience shops largely at the same stores suggests that this is a niche audience in which music, fashion and friendship is closely linked.

After going to parties, watching films was the next most preferred pastime, with 54% claiming to regularly watch films. Again, this is higher than in the initial sample (where 46% regularly watch films) as is reading (39% vs. 30%). These figures indicate that our target audience have higher interests in both film and written media compared to the wider public.

3. Importance placed on music videos

Our research shows that the majority of our target audience (67%) believe that music videos are “quite important, with the power to improve a mediocre song and ruin a decent song”. This suggests that our target audience do place quite a significant importance on the music video. This is perhaps a little surprising; given the importance that music has for our target audience, we would maybe have expected our target audience to place less emphasis on the music video and more on the video itself. Furthermore, upon closer inspection and comparison, we also see that 27% said that music videos are “not important at all, only the music counts” and 3% believe that music videos are “very important, a song can only be good if it has a good music video” yet in the initial sample 29% believed the former and 2% believed the latter. Although these are very slim differences, it seems that our target audience place slightly higher importance on the music video than our initial sample representing the wider public. However, we mustn’t forget that the rigid nature of the question and available responses may have played a significant role in the outcome of the results and must therefore be cautious when drawing conclusions from this data. It is clear, though, that the quality of the music video will have some influence on the consequent success of the songs and we must focus accordingly on making our music video the best it can be – most likely by using ideas put forward by our target audience as to what makes a good music video, which is discussed in the next slide.

4. What makes a good music video?

According to our research, our target audience believe that the most important factor in a good music video is “visuals relevant to the song”, in accordance with Goodwin’s theory (1992). This is something that we have looked to incorporate in our video, using a narrative consistent with the theme of the song as well as including scenes which match the lyrics. Surprisingly, the second most important factor is well-choreographed dance moves. This come as a bit of a shock as rock/ indie/ alternative rock music videos rarely include dancing, especially choreographed group dancing – which is much more common in pop/ dance/ R&B music videos. Due to this, dance moves is not something we have worked on in our music video and we don’t believe that we will do so. One possible explanation for this surprise result is that, with R&B and indie music being equally the most popular genres, several (or at least some) participants – even those among our target audience – are likely to listen to both genres. We can only assume, therefore, that this result is perhaps a reflection of this and the demand for well-choreographed dance moves refers to R&B music videos rather than Rock/ Indie/ Alternative Rock music videos.

The following three most important factors (in order) are live performances the band/ artist, attractive men (albeit due to a gender bias in the sample – 23 females vs. 6 males) and an exciting narrative. Unfortunately, we were not able to incorporate the first factor as our band (The New York Fund) are based in London and were unavailable for shooting. As for “attractive men”, we cannot take this too seriously due to the significant gender bias, and, although we did try our best to include desirable actors/ actresses, we had several drop-outs in that area resulting in me playing the lead male myself – whether this improves our success in the attractive males department I couldn’t say. Finally, regarding an “exciting narrative”, we were surprised at the lowliness of this factor (just 29% said it was an important factor – compared to the 75% who said relevant visuals are important) because of its contribution to keeping the viewer interested. However, almost a third do feel it’s important and we are aware of the importance of an interesting narrative and have sought to create one.

5. Ideologies and representations in music videos

Our results show that our target audience is somewhat neutral concerning the extent to which they believe that women are represented negatively in music videos, as 50% agreed at 3/ 5 on a scale of 1 (being lowest) to 5 (being highest), with the remaining 50% being distributed evenly at 1 or 2 (26%) and 4 or 5 (24%). However, most of our target audience believe that negative representations can adversely affect influences, with 53% believing that negative representations either “probably” or “definitely” affect audiences in an adverse manner, while 25% said “maybe” and just 13% said either “probably not” or “definitely not”. From these figures we can deduce that our target audience are relatively conscious about the potential influences of negative representations in music videos and other media, however the majority (76% - who selected 1/ 2/ 3 on the scale of agreement) do not believe the representation of women in music videos to be a seriously pressing concern.

Examples of members of our target audience:

Male Female

I am 17 I am at 6th formNext year I want to go to university

I enjoy being with my friends, listening to music, going to parties and reading books

I spend quite a lot of time studying

When I go to parties I tend to drink too much

I care a lot about the way I look

My favourite shops are H&M and Topman

My favourite genres of music are indie/ alternative rock/ rock

I am 18

I am at 6th form

Next year I want to take a gap year, before going to university the following year

I like going out with my mates, listening to music, going to parties and watching films

I believe that music videos are quite important, a good can improve a mediocre song but a bad one can be detrimental

I take pride in my appearance and in the clothes I wear

My favourite shops are H&M and Topman

I listen to rock/ indie/ alternative rock music

My friends listen to the same/ most of the bands/ artists that I listen to

I play the guitar