Audience Research - Defining and Engaging the Audience

Audience Research – 16-25 year old middle and upmarket media literate audience who like to be entertained

Age

People between the ages of 16-25 are often labelled as ‘digital natives’ due to their extensive use of social media from growing up around technology. This gives them a different understanding of the digitised music industry than older generations so different techniques would be needed to target and engage this age group.

 

30.8% of Instagram users are between the ages of 18 and 24

36.2% of TikTok users are between the ages of 18 and 24

56.4 million people in the US between the ages of 11 and 26 use social media

 

Due to their time on social media and the spread of ‘new politics’ that focuses on activism over political parties, this age group is likely to be politically aware and engage in online activism such as as e-petitions and donations to causes. This would then be recognised in the communication of political messages through the music video and the partnership with charities on the website.

 

Due to their younger age, this demographic is more likely to be socially liberal so would connect with the left leaning message of the music video and appreciate the diversity present within the band regarding ethnicity, sexuality and gender.

 

Attending live music events is often popular amongst this demographic with 46% of those attending festivals in the US every year being between the ages of 18 and 34. This means that the performance element of the music video, along with a quick link to tour tickets on the website, would engage this audience.

Middle Class

The middle class categorises those who are well educated, who have good jobs and a stable income but are not rich enough to be part of the upper class. Due to their higher level of education, this social group is likely to be more politically active or at least have a good understanding of current politics so would engage with the political messages within the song, music video and website. This social group can be classed as a BC1 demographic which makes up approximately 50% of the UK’s population so the music video has a wide potential audience. Their financial situation mans that the audience can spend money on merchandise or tour tickets adding another stream of revenue aside from streaming.

Media literate

Media literacy is the ability of individuals in an audience to correctly recognise and understand information presented to them by the media producer, and thus respond as the producer intends them to (as suggested by Hall’s Reception Theory, with the preferred reading of a media text). A media literate audience will have a greater understanding of the music video and website due to their recognition of intertextual references meaning they can understand the media products on a deeper level that those who lack media literacy.

 

I wanted to try out editing clips for the song I chose. The clips are rough as I mainly wanted to focus on the editing side, and I had to use the iPad version which is less advanced so it is not exactly how I would like my finished product to be. But this quick exercise has given me more confidence in my plan.

I wanted the introduction to include clips of both the narrative and performance (which I may add simple complimentary animations to), with cut aways and overlays, to set the tone of the video. But I thought it would be interesting to mix the two for the first lyrics and have the volume turning up to the beat as the intensity of the music increased (however I think I will adjust the composition of that shot and add some animation with the actual project).

Initial Lyrics/Shots Plan

 Song - Hypnotize by SOAD

Photo ideas for website

 I wanted to experiment with different compositions of items and lighting for possible images on the website. 

Merchandise Ideas

 Because rock bands have a large emphasis on their merchandise, I wanted to create some ideas to go on the website. A convention of merchandise for this genre is the image of the band’s logo and/or album cover.

This is a sew on patch of the band’s album cover image, as many in the alternative scene wear DIY clothing.

This is the album sleeve with the album cover image, album name and band name.

 

These are guitar or bass picks with the band’s album cover image, abbreviation of the name of the album and an image of stars which will become a convention of the band.

This is a long sleeve with the band’s logo on the front and the band’s album cover image, album name and band name on the back.

This is a hoodie with the band’s name and the number 13 on the front as there are thirteen tracks on the album.

This is a t-shirt with the band’s album cover image and band name on the back and the band’s logo on the front.

Initial Ideas Mood Board

The first mood board consists of my initial ideas for the music video itself. As the song has political connotations, I want to include imagery of propaganda vs news stories to accompany the underlining narrative. Also, an example of a location I want to film in is a dense woods. Another idea I would like to include is the notion of looking by using the mirror in a car (which also relates to the lyrics). 

This mood board is for my initial ideas regarding the website. I would like to include embedded images and videos, as well as interactive features. I would like the images to have a focus on the band and their instruments.

Initial ideas

 Brief 4: Music Video and Online

I’m  thinking of doing Hypnotize by System of a Down which is a hard rock song. I will cut between a narrative based on the lyrics (as it is a political based song) and clips of the band performing in a grunge setting. There will also be small animations to highlight specific notions/themes in the video. 

The website will have a main page and an about us page as well as various links and pop ups for social media, merch, tours, etc. 

The original audio will be a behind the scenes blog with clips of each member of the band in their band life.