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Friday, 28 November 2014

Focus Group

For this task, I found two students who matched the general profile of the magazine's target audiences and asked them questions relating to the magazine in a 'focus group' video.

After recording the video, I uploaded and edited it in iMovie from scratch. Below, I have attached a screenshot to show how I put together the video in order to achieve the desired effect.


I started by importing the clips and then adding them along with the text into the timeline. I did this as chronologically as I could to make it easier. I had to cut, chop and split clips as well as adjust the audio in some as you could hear me asking the questions in the background. After I got everything in place, I added transitions and tweaked the brightness to complete the visuals.
Lastly, I added audio. This was probably the most difficult part as I had to adjust the volume levels in places so the voices could be heard over it. Not only this, but the audio clip I used (a standard iMovie clip so as not to potentially breach copyright by using a downloaded one) was too short for the video; therefore I had to piece it together with an earlier chunk of the audio as best as possible in order to complete it.
The video took around 2-3 hours to complete.

Overall, I would have preferred it if I could have had more people answering questions in the video. However, this was almost impossible due to time limits and difficulties I was having with my camera on the day of recording. It took around an hour to record the video of Molly as my camera/SD card suffered writing issues and would cut off at various places in the recordings. To improve, I would have allowed more time to record, checked any potential issues with equipment before starting and asked more people to participate.

Response to Focus Group

Why was it useful?

The focus group were useful as they answered my questions in depth, often expanding upon their answers and explaining why. They gave me answers to questions which would help in the development of my magazine and articles which will appeal to the target audience such as 'What are your favourite artists?'. They answered questions that may help increase circulation of the magazine such as price and how often the magazine should be released.

How has it helped you in the decisions you will make when creating your magazine?

The focus group helped me in the decisions I will make for the magazine as they have given me ideas for feature stories and contents pages, advised how often the magazine should be released and in what format. Their answers have been helpful as it gave an insight into the views of my target audience and therefore suggested how it could be targeted better to suit them.

Did you find out something that you did not expect to?

I was fairly surprised at their answers for 'Would you prefer a paper or electronic copy?’ as a number of existing electronic music magazines publish them online. This is due to the fact that EDM music, being widely distributed electronically, is reflected well in the fact that the majority of dedicated magazines also release issues electronically. However, physical paper copies can sometimes be easier to read, look better and, as Victoria stated, are more authentic.

What were your general findings?

One of my general findings were that the target audience felt as though their genre was somewhat neglected in terms of magazines, “The genre that I listen to, they don’t really have a specific music magazine.” This further backs up the fact that I found the magazine research difficult due to a lack of existing products. I also found that generally, as a fairly young audience, they would prefer a cheaper price (£2 or £3-4 for a good quality magazine) and would only want to purchase it monthly in order to allow the best quality production and to avoid spending often.

Has it made you change any of your initial ideas?

The focus group hasn’t made me change any of my initial ideas as generally, their responses were relatively predictable. However, it has helped me to refine ideas and gain a better idea on the opinions of the target audience, thus backing up the decisions I had already made.

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