Questionnaire
1. If you were able to dress in any brand what will it be?
We asked this question to relate to our music video and help us decide what type of costume we should provide for our band. This is useful as it gives us the generic conventions of indie which will provide our music video which the generic conventions.
2. In a music video what do you like to see; narrative based, concept based or performance based?
We asked this question as it will help us decide which type of music video we provide. Whether it should be narrative based, performance based or concept based; or if we should provide a mixture.
3. What are your top three favourite artists?
We asked this question as it will give us ideas from these favourite artists. As this is the indie sub-culture, they will also help us with the generic conventions which we should provide in our music video.
4. What do you do in your free time?
We asked this question so we can get ideas as what theme we should put in our music video/ album cover. For example if most people say they go to the park, then we may add a park theme so the audience can feel closer to the artists.
5. What’s your favourite style in clothing please tick from the list below:
Polo shirts [ ]
Shirts [ ]
Denim shirts [ ]
Chinos trousers [ ]
Skinny jeans [ ]
Monkey jeans [ ]
Canvas shoes [ ]
Boat shoes [ ]
Loafers [ ]
Espadrilles [ ]
We asked this question to help us with the costume of our band. What comes up as most frequent, we may decide to pick an outfit like that as this will represent the common Indie wear.
6. What’s your top three music videos?
We asked this question because we want music videos to compare to and copy certain styles that will attract to the Indie subculture. Also the common artists mentioned, we can research into their style of their music videos and costume and analysis how we can represent this in our music video.
7. What’s your dream job?
We asked this question as what the audience aspire to; we can try and include this in our music video so they will be more attracted to our music video. For example if most of the audience say they want to be a graphics designer, then we will include items that they will aspire to such as Mac laptops.
8. How do you usually receive your music?
Download Music [ ]
Buy CD’s [ ]
We asked this question because we want see if much people buy CDs much or just download music. This most people download, then we may need to think about making our album more attractive so people would want to buy it.
9. How do you watch music videos?
Online [ ]
Television [ ]
iPod [ ]
We asked this question because we want to see the most popular and from that make our video available to these media products. For example if Ipod is the most common, then will make sure our video is available so it can reach the highest views possible.
10. Can you relate to the music video lyrics?
YES OR NO
And why?
We asked this question so we can make our music video to be able to connect with the audience. If most of the audiences say they don’t relate to the videos, then asking why will give us the advantage to add this to our music video and allow the audience to relate to our video.
Questionnaire Results
1. 1. If you were able to dress in any brand what will it be?
From this result it shows that from our subculture (Indie), Vans are the most popular brand of clothing they wear. This information will help us as we now know to include mainly Vans in out video so the audience will feel closer to the band and be able to relate to them. Brands such as Lazy Oaf won’t be included in our video as not much of our subculture recognises this and wear this brand. We may include brands such as Dr Martins as this brand is worn often by the subculture Indie.
1. 2. In a music video what do you like to see; narrative based, concept based or performance based?
From this result it shows that our subculture (Indie), they prefer performance based songs over narrative and concept based songs. This means that we need to include performance based in our music video as this is what our audience will mainly be expecting; they are used to seeing mainly performance based. As our budget is not high, we aren’t going to include performance based throughout our video, also this would be too linear and our audience may get bored. Narrative was the second preferred music video to be seen. We are going to include both narrative and performance based so our audience won’t get bored.
1. 3. What are your top three favorite artists?
From this result it shows that our subculture (Indie) mostly like Arctic Monkeys more than any other band we mentioned. This may be because the Arctic Monkeys have been in the music industry longer than the other bands; so they are more recognised. This shows that me and my group need to research into Arctic Monkeys and analysis key conventions they include so we can include this in our album cover and music video. For example this may include the costumes they wear, hair styles and common themes in their music videos.
1. 4. What do you do in your free time?
1. 5. What’s your favorite style in clothing please tick from the list below:
From this result it shows that our subculture (Indie) mostly wears canvas shoes with chino trousers and either a polo shirt or a shirt. This is very helpful for me and my group as we can make sure that our band wears these types of clothes in our music video and album cover so they fit better into the Indie subculture and attract them more.
1. 6. What’s your top three music videos?
From the result it shows that our subculture (Indie) prefers Don’t You Look Good on the Dance Floor to the other two music videos. This shows that Arctic Monkeys are one of the most favorite bands along with their music videos in the Indie subculture. This will help me and my group as we can look at this music video and try to duplicate some of the conventions they use. Also to look at their album covers and get ideas from them. From this our Indie subculture with hopefully feel the same connection they feel with Arctic Monkeys with our band as there will be common themes.
1. 7. What’s your dream job?
In the options of this result, we tried to offer a range of job careers. From the results it shows that our subculture (Indie) most of them don’t know what they want to be when they’re older. This is useful for our group as we know that there are not much job aspirations. Although there was a few people who wanted to be a graphic designer. This will help us as we can include essentials for a graphic designer such as high tech gadgets. This would mean the audience will aspire to this and therefore feel connected.
1. 8. How do you usually receive your music?
From these results it shows that our subculture (Indie) mostly downloads music rather than buy CD’s. This shows that we need to make our album cover attractive to the audience that they would want to buy our album cover.
< 9. How do you watch music videos?
From these results it shows that our subculture (Indie) mostly watches music videos online. This shows the popularity of the internet. This result will help me and me group as now we need to make sure our video is available online to achieve the highest viewing rates. We need to consider what popular website to upload it to such as YouTube. We also need to consider our video being available for Ipod viewers; this will increase our band’s popularity and allow them to gain greater recognition.
10. Can you relate to the music video lyrics?
From these results it shows that our subculture (Indie) can relate to music videos. This may be because of the conventions of indie being applied within the music videos; they feel connected as there are common norms and values with the band members and the audience. For example if the audience see their favourite Indie band chilling in the park, they may feel connected with the band as they usually do that too. This result has helped me and my group as we can also apply some common norms and values within the Indie subculture so they can relate to the music video. For example we can include similar outfits such as check shirts and canvas shoes so the Indie audience can relate to the band more.
Indie is short for the word independent. They are independent from the mainstream culture itself. They do whatever they like without worrying about fitting into the pop culture or mainstream. A value of theirs is just to be you; do what you want and wear what you want and not care what people think.
Clothing trends within the indie culture are focused on uniqueness and individuality of a person. Common clothing items include band T-shirts, vintage clothing, shirts, chinos, ties, cardigans, skinny jeans, Vans and Converse. They wear whatever they like, not just your typical designer brands. Popular indie stores include Urban Outfitters, Delia’s, Goodwill, Yesterday’s News etc.
Two Door Cinema Club’s say their genre of music is Alteronica which is a mix of pop, indie, rock and electro. This means they appeal to a broad range of music listeners. It is usually hard to establish the target audience of a band, although you can get a better idea from what companies promote their music. NME is a well established music company and their magazine often promotes Two Door Cinema Club with interviews and videos and blogs on their site. The NME magazine is aimed at 17 to 30 year old men but from looking at the statistics the median age is 25 and 73% of the readers are male resulting in 27% of the readers being female. These statistics show that they are appealing to their target audience. From these figures we need to appeal our music video to 17 to 30 year old males as they are going to be the ones that relate to the band the most; they would have heard and read about Two Door Cinema Club.
Subculture
A subculture is a group of people who are united through a common value system and tastes (clothes, music, policies etc.) These common norms and values are against the mainstream.
An example of black youth’s subculture:
- Being individual, dress same within subculture
- Brand names such as Nike, Adidas, McKenzie etc. These brands are usually at JD Sports
- Similar to chavs
- ‘Old Skool’ ‘New Skool’
Links to how the subcultures view:
- Seen as a rebellion subculture as they usually break the law
- Attitude to consumerism; they focus on appearance ad purchase certain brands
- Gang rivalry
- They aren’t seen as traditional as they produce new ideas (neophyte)
Here is an example of the subculture who will listen to our music, Indie:
- Being individual, dress same within subculture
- Brand names such as Vans, Converse etc. Chinos and check shirts are usually worn.
Links to how the subcultures view:
- They don’t usually conform but rebel by creating their own values.
- They have more on an attitude to consumerism then capitalism
- They’re more tribal than gang rivalry
- They aren’t seen as traditional as they produce new ideas (neophyte)
Subculture Theory
Grant Mc Cracken – The postmodern world is full of diversity, creativity and dynamic. Looking at the common values, we cannot say this is from one culture – the mainstream.
The CCCS (centre for contemporary cultural studies) – They ignore this view as they believe all subcultures are from the mainstream but believe this is a reaction against it.
Hebdige – believes although subculture appear different, they are deep down the same culture. There’s no subculture because if you look deeper, there’s enough richness to warrant renaming subcultures as little cultures.
CCCS is out of date as the mainstream is crumbling. If there’s no mainstream, there’s nothing teens react against. They’re driven by their motives and these are understood through own terms, individual terms. “There’s no mainstream, there are many streams.” – quote from Hebdige.
Criticism against CCCS:
- Generalises when it should be particularising.
- They don’t take into account of the. fact teens will often move between sub-cultures.
- Also a lot of people mix and match between subcultures. For example a boy may be in the ‘Chavs’ subculture but may also have elements of a ‘Goth’ subculture.
- Adults can conform to the mainstream but re-enter a subculture at a different time e.g. weekends. For example a teacher maybe be a ‘Goth’ on the weekends but during weekday be a conformist and follow the mainstream.
Pop music and youth subculture
Pop stars are presented in a certain way to appeal to a certain audience. The audience are unpredictable in their likes and dislikes that record labels can never truly know how to target them.
Dyer’s ‘Star Theory’
- Stars represent shared cultural values and attitudes and will promote a certain ideology; fans who agree with this will support the star.
- Fans will imitate the star in order to get closer to them and their fancy lifestyle they appear to have. This could be the way they dress, copy behaviour etc.
- Dyer theory is to movie stars but this applies to pop stars as they have a faster way of gaining fans and popularity.
For example Two Door Cinema Club are an Indie band, so they show cultural norms and values within the Indie subculture that present a certain ideology and fans in the Indie subculture will agree and support this band. Therefore fans will feel connected with the star and try to get closer to them and their lifestyle by wearing similar clothing and similar behaviour.
Another example is Kylie Minogue:
In these images, Kylie has changed over time. This is because she needs to adapt to different audiences through time to keep an audience and to get a wider target audience.
Beliefs and values of Indie subculture
From look at NME, I believe the main subculture is Indie that read this magazine. I used Find Your Tribe and Youtube to find out what characteristics this group has:
Indie is short for the word independent. They are independent from the mainstream culture itself. They do whatever they like without worrying about fitting into the pop culture or mainstream. A value of theirs is just to be you; do what you want and wear what you want and not care what people think.
The indie subcultures as a whole value ‘do it yourself’ projects. Most in this subculture like making their own clothing or altering things they already own to give it a more unique look. Also D.I.Y. projects like making their own music or films are often done. A lot of indie bands have a unique style and sound although they don’t all sound the same. They value the fact that they can make any type of music they like without people disapproving. Many followers of the indie culture are associated with local independent art and music scenes.
Target audience
Two Door Cinema Club’s say their genre of music is Alteronica which is a mix of pop, indie, rock and electro. This means they appeal to a broad range of music listeners. It is usually hard to establish the target audience of a band, although you can get a better idea from what companies promote their music. NME is a well established music company and their magazine often promotes Two Door Cinema Club with interviews and videos and blogs on their site. The NME magazine is aimed at 17 to 30 year old men but from looking at the statistics the median age is 25 and 73% of the readers are male resulting in 27% of the readers being female. These statistics show that they are appealing to their target audience. From these figures we need to appeal our music video to 17 to 30 year old males as they are going to be the ones that relate to the band the most; they would have heard and read about Two Door Cinema Club.
Tolu, you have questioned your target audience to provide you with insightful information into the subculture. Ensure that you now use this information to support the planning of your own music video so that you target your audience.
ReplyDeleteYou outline the key points of subcultural theory and present your own analysis of your chosen audience's culture however can you apply the theorist's ideas to your analysis?
ReplyDeleteYour analysis of your chosen artist and target audience is thoughtful and the research into the NME audience supports this. In the planning of your own music video consider how you will target this audience through media techniques.
ReplyDelete