Target Audience and Market Research

Why is researching my target audience and doing market Research important?


The point of this is too see what the public expect of the music genre and the styles of music I have looked into, this is important to create a successful music video that is relatable to the audience, music and genre. If I were to continue making my music video without input from a wide range of people I might not be able to create a video that is relatable and that doesn’t work with the genre the way the public expect.

Questions;

Are you female or male?

What's your age?

1. One first reaction; What do you think about when you hear 'punk rock'?
2. How do you see this genre? Is it something you would listen too? Why?
3. How do you think the wider public see this genre? Why?
4. What topics do you think are normally discussed in song from this genre?
5. How do expect the editing of these music videos to seem? (i.e. smooth and easy to understand)
6. What colour would you expect in a punk rock video?
7. Are there any small details that you believe are essential to creating a music video for this genre such as; make up, styling, setting etc?

I am going send this questionnaire through face book and see what results I get back, I then want to create a table with all the information I have gathered and see how I can use this new found knowledge towards my own production.

Question	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Male / 18	The Ramones	Yeah..because I like 80's punk rock	Probably not very popular more people like pop	Drugs Sex Parties Goodtimes	Very fast Paced Blurred Funky colours Drugged POV	Pink Black	Tight ripped jeans Massive hair alleyways Dark make up
Female / 18	The runnaways Sex pistols	The runaways is one of my favourite bands	Emo - sterotyped	Sex drugs love pain	Sketchy rough fast dark	red	Skinny jeans crazy leggings ripped tshirts platform heels back commbed hair leather messy
Female / 19	Sum 41	Still always listen to punk rock	Slowly becoming more mainstream		Stories – should flow seamlessly	All	The stertype images are slowly changing to a wider variety
Female / 16	Sex pistols vivenna westwood wild outragious behaviour	Yes its care free and filled with energy	The public dont understand the genre fully and misinterpuret is meanings	Sex drugs rock and roll	Hectic Wild Complicated	Red Green Blue Yellow Orange Pink Black Statement colours Tartan	Really wild hair outragious clothing contovercy
Female / 17	Red tartan trouser mohawk piecrings craness	I prefer fast paced punk rock rather than slow melodic	Adults – see this music reflecting child with upbringing issues Other – Emo, goth, freak	Rioting Loosing control drugs sex pain	Fast paced – in your face!	Red black dark green	Clothes – unusal ripped clothing bright colours massive hair obvious peircings skulls
Female / 18	Sex pistols	Rebellious fast attitude havey guitar - I enjoy some	I think people see people that listen to this type of music are seen as rebellious teenagers with nothing to do but cause trouble.	Sex, drugs, rock, goverment/ forms of authority being ignored.	Flashing lights, quick cuts, lots of colour ( yellow, neons, reds) lots of movement.	Neon, yellow, red.	Peircings, big hair, ripped clothes, killer heels, SPANDEX, preferably at a gig or a band on stage.
Female / 16	SID VICIOUS! non-comformist, vivienne westwood, the sex pistols, anti-establishment, anarchy	i see this genre as a groundbreaking type of music, it really was a huge breakthrough and knocked down all the rules regarding music and fashion. and yes i would listen to it and i DO :) mainly because i like thinking that the music of the sex pistols for example caused so much chaos and so much disorder, and it really upset the establishment	if im honest i dont think the younger generation would really understand punk rock, mainly because when people our age see an image of the sex pistols they'd probably think they were 'emo', because everyone's narrow minded nowadays and doesnt understand genres. i also think that punk rock is something thats always been misinterpreted by the wider public, in the 70s people assumed that the sex pistols were just yobs when really if you look at john lydons lyrics and things you can see that he truly put meaning behind his songs, unlike trash like JLS nowadays	punk bands mainly wrote about political issues, they used their status as musicians to get out important messages through their songs. usually they also wrote about taboo subjects, which is why the genre was considered so shocking and insulting. for example, the sex pistols wrote about abortions and swore a lot in their music, which caused a lot of controversy as things like that weren't mentioned in public at the time.	i think the styling of the music videos shouldn't be easy to understand, as the point of the genre is to be sort of undefinable which would defeat the whole concept of punk rock if you could clearly understand the video. punk rock, although it was quite political and offensive was also very fun and energetic, and that was shown through the videos.	i would expect a variety of colours, but mainly the colours black and red, as these were considered the 'main colours' of punk which defined the genre. bright colours can be expected too, but not in the way that someone like miley cyrus would do it as that would be ridiculous	piercings, really strange hairstyles and controversial clothing. even though this is going to sound terrible, sid vicious used to wear nazi symbols on his tshirts just because it caused complete uproar in public. basically go with something thats going to cause offense because the whole point of punk is to be completely individual and to break every single rule you can :)

Typical 'Punk' Imagery

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS

I expected these results, they all seem to be a very stereotypical understanding of the genre; which yes many bands conform too but a lot don't this is something I want to convey in my own music video. I want the unexpected to impress and relate to the music without looking odd or my audience not understanding how I have linked my subject matter to the song.

Question 1 -

Classic punk bands were mentioned a few times - Sex Pistols, The Ramones, The Runaways - The mentioning of these classic bands makes me think about why they have stood out in peoples minds – all of these bands have both conformed with the expected styling and image of punk as well as rebelling against it all and creating their own images that have now stuck into modern day punk as huge influences for bands such as My Chemical Romance ; The Used and Blink 182.

Question 2 -

Most of the people I questioned enjoyed punk rock music and again mentioned some of the bands (listed above,) as well as mentioning the rebellious nature and fashion of these bands, high energy is an important and key factor towards this genre of music, though melodic punk rock is widely known but I think is sometimes over looked when think about the genre on first thought. One person mentioned the care free attitude of this genre of music; something I'd like to create in my own music video a care free feeling between the audience and music video.

Question 3 -

The reaction to question 3 was very mixed some people believe that this genre of music is becoming more mainstream ; something I believe in as Radio stations such as BBC Radio 1 have rock sessions and have become more open to playing punk/rock/metal bands during high volume listener times. Though many people would only know this if they were keen radio listeners which I don't believe people are. A stereotype often conveyed in these music videos is 'emo' a styling and group of people who are known for being 'emotional,' wether because they are in touch with their emotions and let it out through many art forms, (typically writing, art, music) but some issues with this group of people is the reputation of self harming, self mutilation, suicide and depression, this something I really don’t want involved in my music video because I think it's an understood and unappreciated group of individuals whom aren't respected and I don't want to add to these thoughts because I have a lot of empathy towards these people.

Question 4 -

All the same attribute have been discussed in these answers; sex, drugs, pain etc. Though common in this genre of music I don't think these are easy topics to be able to understand and create a music video surrounds because of the sensitivity between the viewer and music video and how these subjects may affect them, as this the song I have in mind is an uplifting song that doesn't explore negative feelings or emotions.

Question 5 -

The answers all discuss fast paced movement, flashing cuts, complicated camera movements and editing, though one answer mentioned that is the song discuss' a story many of the song that do this have seamless editing and steady camera shots ; I like this because I believe the same the camera angels cant be raunchy and confusing if the song is melodic and about a subject such as love, crazy camera shots and editing just wouldn’t make sense and would confuse the audience.

Question 6 -

A range of colours have been discussed and not many have been mentioned more than twice so I don't feel as if theres a specific colour I should include in my music video, I'm happy about this because as an artist and a creator of this music video I like using bright colours to convey my message to the audience and feel that being able to be free and creative with colouring I will be able to do this more effectively.

Question 7 -

Big hair and ripped skinny jeans seen to be the main answer to this question, this I can understand the answer too not only because this is what is fashion at the moment and even pop music videos feature these two attributes, in the punk scene since the beginning around the Sex Pistols and the Runaways these two aesthetics have always been featured and almost key to their image.