1. Market Research
For my music production task I was told I had to create a music video. In order to create the
best music video I could possibly make I had to research this study. My research consisted of
questionnaires given out to various individuals. The questionnaires will help me understand
what people want and like to see in a music video and help me base my own production on
the results. I will base my music video on the results of my research so it is vital i conduct
this research.
I decided to give twenty individuals my music video questionnaire. Within the twenty
individuals ten were males, nine were females and one individual choose to put other. The
number of males to females is fairly equal so I will not base my music video aimed at a
particular gender but for both.
Half of the individuals who I got to fill out my music questionnaire were at an age range of 17-21.
This is because I mainly handed my questionnaires out at college and believe that music videos
appeal more to the younger generation. Six individuals out of twenty were at an age range of 22-26
whilst two were 13-13 and two more 35+. I tried to get a range of ages of ages for some of my data
so that I had some knowledge on what everybody wants. As my findings are based on the results of
the age range 17-21 I will base my music video aimed at this particular age range.
Gender
Male
Female
Other
What is your age range?
13-16
17-21
22-26
27-35
36+

2. What genre of music do you
prefer?
POP
RnB
Indie
Heavy Metal
Country
Dance
other
Whilst researching I found out that the most popular genre was Indie. The second most popular
genres were POP and RnB. I will base my music video on the second most popular genre of POP as I
am also interested in this particular genre making the task more enjoyable whilst also appealing to
my audience. The third most popular genre was heavy metal whilst country genre didn’t seem to
appeal to my audience. My questionnaire contained an ‘other’ box which allowed individuals to
name a genre that may not have been stated, this box was left empty with no other genre being
mentioned.
As part of my research I asked individuals where they most watched their music videos. I
found out that most people watched music videos on YouTube. The least favourite places to
watch music videos were twitter and Facebook. This is probably because they are social
networking sites and so do not appeal to audiences as much as the other options might.
Watching music videos on your phone was also a popular option but not as popular as
YouTube.
Where do you watch music videos
most?
YouTube
Facebook
Phone
Twitter
TV

3. Whilst conducting my questionnaire I asked individuals what type of style they would prefer
to see in a music video. The majority of individuals would prefer to watch an abstract styled
video with the performance style coming a close second. I have decided to base my music
video to fall into an abstract style whilst also including slightly narrative sequences. I believe
this will prove popular with my audience. The least favourite style was the narrative style.
There are three main kinds of music videos that individuals prefer to watch, happy, dark and
humorous. The most popular kind of music video to watch is a music video based on a
happy narrative which is why I have chosen to use this kind of narrative when producing my
music video. I found the second most popular narrative to be humorous with the least
popular kind of music video based on a dark narrative.
What type of style would you prefer to
see in your music video?
Performance
Narrative
Abstract
What kind of music video do you prefer?
Happy Narrative
Dark Narrative
Humourous

4. I was unsure on whether to use a hybrid genre when producing my music video so I decided
to put a question on my questionnaire that would allow me to find out the answer. The
results show that both Dance/POP and POP/Rap were equally popular. The least popular
hybrid genres were POP/Country and Rock/Dance. Some individuals said that they did not
prefer hybrid genres and would just prefer to listen to one genre. I will be using the hybrid
genre of POP/Rap when producing my music video.
My questionnaire enabled me to find out what individuals consider to be important
conventions within a music video. The three most popular conventions were attractive
artist, dancing and costume meaning when I produce m y music video I will pay attention to
these conventions and try to make them appeal to the audience as much as possible.
Storyline and Instruments were the next two most popular conventions however as I am
producing a music video with an abstract narrative I will not be using a storyline and don’t
believe instruments would fit in well with the video. The least popular convention was
flashing lights although I believe some flashing lights should be shown in the music video I
produce its just not considered ‘most important’.
What do you consider inmportant
conventions within a music video?
Attractive Artist
Dancing
Storyline
Costume
Instruments
Flashing Lights
Do you prefer a hybrid genre?
Rock/Dance
POP/Rap
Dance/POP
POP/Country
No

5. As part of my questionnaire I asked various individuals if they recognised a specific pop
music video. I print screened an image of the music video Lilly Allen-The Fear. This particular
video has a strange narrative and wondered if individuals would find this appealing. My
results show that this particular music video was not that recognisable which could be for
many reasons such as the strange narrative. I plan to use this research to know what to
avoid in my music video and what I need to do to make my music video more recognisable.
I decided to use the ‘do you recognize this POP music video?’ twice but on a completely
different kind of POP music video. I chose to print screen Rihanna’s-We Found Love as it has
a mixed narrative of a storyline and abstract. Rihanna’s music video was more recognisable
to individuals than not recognized at all. This makes me want to look at techniques that she
has used and interpret them into my own.
Do you recognize this music video?
Yes
No
Do you recognise this POP music
video?
Yes
No

6. The uses and gratification theory of Bulmer and Katz is linked to music videos through the
four main uses of diversion, personal relationships, personal identity and surveillance.
Diversion is shown through music videos as an escape from reality much like my music video
will be. Audience use the music video as a diversion from their own life. They create
personal relationships with the artist through what’s being shown and the lyrics. They will
be able to relate to the music video this creating the personal connection with audience and
artist.
As the producer of this media text, I (Hall) will encode messages in the music video such as
placing the attractive artist in certain outfits and depending on the genre to dress a certain
way. The audience are likely to decode this by going out and buying the outfit as they see
the attractive artist looking good and aspire to be them. This would be the audience having
a preferred reading.