1. Questionnaire conclusions
I produced and distributed my questionnaire to an opportunistic sample
around my High school. I got a response from eleven different participants
and am drawing my conclusions from the answers that I received back. All
of my participants were teenage students of various genders, cultures and
social classes, who all study at the same school.
I asked fifteen different questions in a variety of different ways, some being
tick box’s and some asking for a qualitative answer. This was I could gain
reliable and numerical answers to draw graphs from as well as speech
based answers to gain valid data. As my target audience is teenagers
(especially students) I wanted to gain information on what they consider an
enjoyable and successful British music video. Also because our genre of
music isn’t the most popular, I wanted to find out if the genre of music/
song itself affects people’s feelings towards a music video.
Firstly I wanted to find out what the public like to see in a British music
video. I found that over half of the participants prefer a music video which
has real life application over a video that is glamorized and lacks realism to
a British audience. Taking this into account, when making my own music
video with my group I think we should concentrate on British stereotypes
when thinking about Mise-en-scene. This could involve filming in well
known British places such as central London, and using basic props instead
of glamorous ones stereotypically used in American videos such as 'bling'
and fancy cars.
I also found from my results that 'attractive models' are a factor that the
public enjoy seeing in music videos; with six of the eleven participants
choosing them as something they like to see in a British music video. When
trying to add this factor into my own music video I should be careful and
make sure I do not glamorize my video by making the models look false.
This would reduce the realism of the video which participants previously
stated that they dislike. Also with almost half of the participants choosing

2. special effects and sunny/ summery settings as a factor they would like to
see in a music video. This is something I plan to take into account when
creating my own music video and plan to do some filming outside on a
warm sunny day to please my target audience.
In my questionnaire I also asked participants if they preferred a music video
which had a story throughout the scenes, or if they preferred a video where
lots of random clips had been placed together. The majority of people
answered that they preferred a story to be told, with eight out of eleven
participants choosing that option. I also asked participants if they liked or
disliked when a song is another song from the same artist/ band is
previewed at the start/ beginning of a music video. Most people chose to
dislike it, so I will not be previewing any other song when in making my own
video.
The next thing I wanted to find out from my questionnaire is what catches a
person’s eye when watching a music video for the first time. I gave four
different options for participants to choose from. Seven of the eleven
participants who took part in my questionnaire stated that the musician/
band that feature in the video are the most eye catching factor. This may
be a problem for when we make our own music video. As we are not
celebrities or even well known to the public this factor cannot be shown in
our own video. It means that as a group we will have to concentrate on
other factors to make our music video appealing and stand out. Participants
also stated that the use of modern technology is key when making a video
attractive. This can be done when we edit our video after filming, or/ and
whilst filming by using simple editing techniques involving pausing and
recording.
I and my group have chosen ‘Techno pop’ for our genre of music to work
with, which isn’t a hugely popular genre. Out of own interest, in my
questionnaire I asked participants if they thought that the genre of music in
a music video can effect how good the music video is. To my surprise the
majority of people answered yes, they do think the genre can effect how

3. good the video is. This means that when making our own video we will
have to try extra hard to make our video appealing to a wide ranged
audience, as not many people listen to techno pop. If we do not do this
then our video may not be successful as we concluded from our
questionnaire research that the genre of music can negatively affect the
videos rating.
My questionnaire was also very helpful for us to gain an understanding on
which artists/ bands the public feels has good music videos. Participants
stated that they enjoy watching music videos by bands and artists like
‘Missy Elliot’ and ‘The Pharcyde’. This is helpful as we as a group can now
look into this, and research these artists/ bands videos to gain inspiration,
ideas and an understanding on what made them so special.
I also asked participants ‘Do you think that as technology has improved, so
have music videos?’ and as expected the majority of people answered yes.
This works as evidence that the public enjoys the use of special effects and
modern technology. As time goes on and technology expands, music videos
should get more and more technical making them very appealing our target
audience.
Next I wanted to find out what the public believe makes a bad music video.
I asked participants to state the name of a music video which they have
previously watched but didn’t enjoy and to state a reason why. The
response I got was very helpful. One participant wrote that they did not like
Justin Timberlake’s latest music video because they felt that the video did
not relate to the lyrics. They also stated that they felt the video was very
commercialised and lacked realism. This backs up the previous point made
my participants earlier in my questionnaire when they stated that they do
not like glamorised videos because it does not relate to their life a British
citizen. It also emphasises the point that an audience likes a music video to
tell a story, and relate to the lyrics in the song.
One of the final things that I wanted to find out is if a music video can be
more effective then the song that it is promoting. I asked participants in my
questionnaire ‘Have you experience a time where you dislike a song, but

4. enjoy watching the music video so still listen to the song in order to watch
the video?’ To my surprise the majority of people answered yes. This
almost goes against statement previously made by participants that the
genre of music can effect how good a music video is. This is a useful finding
as it means that if our song choice is not something that our target
audience enjoys, our music video can still be successful if made properly.