Identifying our Focus Group

Our target audience is teenagers and young adults aged 16-25 because we feel this category of people will enjoy the music and video the most. This age group is stereotypically known for going out to clubs and music festivals and so is more likely to appreciate the dance/dubstep/dnb genre of our song.
 For our focus group we are using quota sampling. This means we're choosing people because they meet the criteria of our target audience, so we can specifically gather as much information on it as possible and therefore hone the final product to meet the needs and wants of the group. One weakness of quota sampling is that the ficus group won't be representative of anyone outside the target audience.

Planning a Focus Group

For the focus group we want to film it, this is because you can see our target audience which will be in the focus group and you can see their facial and body reactions to the questions that we ask, its more personal to include a actual response from someone so you know it is real and that they can take time to think about what they're answering. We also will take care in what we ask people and make sure that what we ask is beneficial into finding the response that people will have and what they like to see in a music video. We don't want to write out the focus group because it can be boring and you can't gather and establish people's tones of voice or any expression that they may have. We could use voice recordings for a focus group but the sound quality could be poor or there could be static and noise in the background that would make it harder to hear and correctly identify who is speaking and what they are saying.

The Pros to a Focus Group are;
 1. You can gather a lot of information about your target audience.

 2. You can ask specific questions that is suited to your music video.

 3. You can learn what is the trend and what people like the most e.g. what genre is popular.

 4. It doesn't cost anything to hold a focus group.

The Cons to a Focus Group are;

 1. It can be time consuming and could get boring if questions aren't interesting enough.

 2. The techonology that you have your focus group findings on could stop working.

 3. People could answer in a way that isn't beneficial to your project.

 4. It could be hard to find the right type of people for your focus group.

Questionnaires, Focus Group and Sampling.

The following chart explores the pros and cons of research methods. This will help us identify our target audience.

This brings us to sampling. Sampling is also a big part of choosing a research method for your focus group as choosing the right people to ask is key to making a successful music video which is appropriate for the target audience.

The different types of sampling are as follows:

Risk Assessment

Risk assessment is very important to our music video. The reason for this is we have to document anything that could go wrong, the actors and everyone else who is involved need to be safe and we need to do everything in our power to keep everyone safe.

Location: Sophie's Garden
Scene: Girl Miming & Smashing Jars

Although these scenes are only being filmed in a normal garden there are still many things which could go wrong.

• We are using face paint & hair spray on the girl who is miming for us so we need to check with her and make sure she's not allergic to either of them or any of the ingredients.
• As we're filming outside there's always a risk of rain so we'll have to check the forecast and arrange to do it on a clear day.
• In this scene we plan to have the character smashing jars of glitter with a baseball bat/bar of some kind and we'll have to make sure there's no risk of any of us cutting ourselves.
• We will have to be careful that no glitter gets into any of our eyes when the jars are smashed, this could be helped by wearing glasses or goggles.

Location: London
Scenes: Running round London/Homeless People

The majority of our narrative will be filmed in London with the two main characters running around and the homeless people holding up their signs.

• Traffic. London roads are notoriously busy so we'll have to be careful when crossing the road travelling to/from shooting locations. Our plan is to film on quieter streets anyway so this shouldn't be that much of a problem.
• There is more crime in London than where we live so we have to be careful with our equipment etc.
• Whilst we're filming for the running scenes we have to be aware of the people around us and make sure we don't run into anyone or damage anyone's property.

Pictures of the 'Pitch' recording

Pitch

Intended Audience

Social Grade Scale
Predominately we would choose category 'E'; 'Casual and lowest grade workers, unemployed with state benefits only.' For us this would include students. Predominately our song would appeal to people under the age of 30 however could appeal to a more broad audience. This would mean that our music video would also be targeted at 'C2', 'Skilled manual workers' which would also be able to afford nice things whilst still being middle/working class which links into the Socio-economic Values. 

Socio-economic Values
Our music video would be predominately be aimed at 'Social Climbers', 'Those who have a strong materialistic drive and like status symbols such as a Rolex watch or Ferrari.' Our song is something that would be good to play in a car whilst driving and in a club. This would mean that these people have a good social life and a reasonable amount of self esteem which therefore links in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs
Our music video according to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs would be mainly aimed at people in the group of 'Social', 'part of a social or work related group, the sense of belonging in society' This could be students, young work men/women etc. We would also aim our music video at people in the category of 'Self Esteem', 'a good high status and respect for others'. Again, this would be students, and young workers etc. These are mid-table meaning that they have the basics in life but are happier with nice things. This audience could be both male and female which fit in the demographics.  

Demographics
Our music video would be aimed at both male and female although females are stereotypically more likely to watch a video to do with love. Our group have decided that we will not stick to the dominant ideologies and therefore is targeted at people of all abilities. Our music video as above is targeted at the younger generation as the video includes young people and is very fast and upbeat which generally attracts people of the younger generation. The social status of our targeted audience would be as above in the Social Grade Scale. Generally we think that both couples and people who are single would listen to the song. However, we agreed that if you are single you are more likely to listen to love songs. We also agreed that if you have children then you are less likely to want to listen to upbeat songs about two young people in love. We think that people with varied incomes would like to listen and watch the music video. It doesn't matter how much you're earning unless you would buy the single. If you like the song you will listen to it no matter how much you're earning. We do not think that race matters unless you cannot speak the language. If you are young and like fast upbeat music you will like the song no matter what race you are.






This is Tina. She is 19 years old. She enjoys going out clubbing, shopping and just general socialising. She enjoys watching chick flicks and romantic comedies. She loves listening to songs about love and enjoys fast upbeat music but also likes to listen to the odd slow song when she is in the mood. She is doing a degree in media studies in Manchester and uses her Internet a lot for Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and Google.  She would be a perfect audience member to target.

This is Robert. He is 24 years old. He is a Salesman from London. He enjoys working, meeting new people and listening to good fast, upbeat music whilst driving his car and in the pub with his friends. He enjoys watching reality TV, soaps and comedies such as 'Family Guy'.  He would be a great audience member to target!

How to decide on your Intended Audience

When targeting an audience you have to make sure that you have targeted the right audience in order for your music video to succeed. For example, you could not broadcast your music video as every single person has their own taste in music. This therefore means that your music video would have to be narrow casted to a niche audience.

There are many factors that must be considered when targeting an audience. People can be deteremind in to catergories which break the public down into groups and makes it easier for the producers of the music company to decide what type of audience to target. These different factors include:

• The Social Grade Scale System
• Socio-Economic Values
• Demographics
• Physographics
• Maslow's Hierachy of Needs

(See the blog posts with these heading for more information.)

Consumers and creators will benefit from a product if it is 'mutually benefical'. A product must be mutually benefical to succeed therefore be enjoyed by the audience and provide an income for the creators. This therefore measures the success of the music video and is very important to the media company.

Targeting an Audience

This is a well used source to media companies. They use this to discover the number of ratings for each Channel in which helps them determine what channel they should broadcast/narrowcast their music video's etc.

The National Readership Survey (NRS) is another source that media companies commonly use to discover what sort of audience they should be targeting. It is mainly used for radio ratings but as shown in the blog post about the Social Grade Scale it's very useful for TV as well.

The Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) is commonly used by media companies for radio and newspaper ratings etc. They use this to termind what sort of audience they should be marketing their radio/newspapers too.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) is also another source that media companies usually use to discover their target audience. This is another company that focus's itself around newspapers.



Demographics

Demographics is a widely used method to discover the most recent statistical characteristics of the population. Media companies use this method for marketing and deciding on their target audience. Commonly examined demographics include...

• Sex - The sex is important to determine the demographic e.g. girls will want to see a music video of love, boys will want to see a music video of girls dancing around with hardly any clothing (stereotypical demographic)
• Age - Young people will not be in the same demographic as older generations, this is because for example the older generations have no interest in drum and bass or seeing young girls in bikinis etc.
• Social Status - Stereotypically, the higher class will want to listen to classical music and will want to see nice pleasant things or things that express their wealth.
• Occupation and Industry - A successful law firm will want to listen to possibly classical music or something like that, also they will not have as much time to listen to the music of their choice because they are working for the majority of the day.
• Marital Status - If you are single you will more than likely listen to a lot of love songs but not the happy kind the ones where the girl is struggling to get the boy or something of that sort, when you are in a relationship you listen to postive and happy music that you and your partner like, this will widen the demographic from one person to two people.
• Children - Children will obviously not listen to songs that have any sexual connotations or any taboo language. They will want to hear happy, cheerful and light lyrics and there demographic is pretty straight forward.
• Household Tenure - This is the money that people have left over once they have finished paying all there bills. This is a very important demographic because most people have children or pets that they need to pay out for so the better the income the more that they will have left over to spend on the music.
• Income - People with a lot of money can spend more, those that are poorer need to have deals or special offers on the music. This is very important because if you price for example a CD at £15.99 the person with lower income might not be able to spend out that money for just one CD.
• Education - Well-educated people are known to like classical music more than those that havent been to a bording school or a private school, your education influences how you socialise so who you socialise with has an effect on what music you like.
• Mobility - For example, if there is a person in a wheelchair and the music is dance music, they might not like it because they cant dance so the music company would either have to change their target audience or they would have to have the music video without people dancing.
• Location - In the poorer areas it is harder to get to the people because they might not be able to afford the things like the internet. In the wealthier areas access to media is unlimited so it would be easier to get to them.
• Race - Race (Culture) is important when establishing a demographic. For example jamican music is a part of the Black-African persons culture.
• Disabilities -
  If a person cant hear then there possibly is no demographic. If someone has sight problems, the music industry will add bright lights to help them see. Apart from that, disabilities shouldnt really affect demographic profiling.

Media companies would ask themselves...

- Where do these people sit on the Social Grade Scale?

For example, in terms of age, if you're a student according to the Social Grade Scale they would come under E (explained in the Social Grade Scale blog post)

- Where do they sit in relation to Socio-economic Values? 

For example, if their occupation is of a builder and they have a reallyy nice car and a nice house they would be classed as 'Social Climbers' (defined in the Socio-economic Values blog post)

Asking themseleves these questions would determind whether they would like to Broadcast or Narrowcast and who to.

Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs

1. Self actualisation is at the top of Maslows' table. He said that hardly anyone ever reaches the top of this graph in their lives. It means "the need to succeed and realising you've got there in life.

2. Self Esteem, this is the second most important thing on Maslow's table it means that you need to have self esteem, good and high status in life and also respect from others.

3. Social, this means to be a part of a social or work related group, the sense of belonging in society or at home.

4. Safety, this is simply security, security in your personal life, at your job, and also to be secure in a friendship group.

5. Physiological, this is food, water and shelter (the basic essentials and needs in life).

We would apply this is our target audience by seeing what stage they are in their lives according to the table. Once we have established where they are we can successful target them and they should buy the CD.

BARB

BARB stands for 'Broadcasters Audience Research Board'.

They provide the official viewing figures of UK television audiences. Media companies use this in order to decide where they will advertise their programme or broadcast/narrowcast their music video etc. 

This is a print screen of the website demonstrating how you can use it and the sort of figures they give for programmes on BBC1...

However, unless your television is connected to BARB it does not collect your viewing figure therefore isn't 100% accurate and are only estimates based on the knowledge they have from the 26 million TV holders that are connected to BARB which is about 5,000 of the UK population.

Socio-economic Vaules

Socio-economic Values are very important to media companies because it helps them establish what type their target audience is, wether they would be broadcasting to a mass audience of for example of "Social Climbers" or if they are narrowcasting to a group of "Care Givers". This would help the media companies to identify certain aspects of their target audience's lives. This will help them cater the specific needs that the people in certain groups might require.

Social Grade Scale

Social grade is a classification system based on occupation.  The NRS has been the research industry’s source of social grade data that has delevolped over the past 50 years.

This is a print screen of the NRS website.

A includes people such as executives, surgeons, headteachers etc.
B includes managers in retail, teachers, police etc.
C1 includes people who work in shops, PA's ect.
C2 includes plummers, electritions ect.
D includes labourours and people who are doing apprenteships etc.
E includes the unemployed, people on minimum wage such as students etc.


This Social Grade Scale is used by all differnent types of media companies to decide on their target audience. As well as this they also use BARB (see other post).