Research - Interviewing

As well as sending my survey I wanted to talk to people about what they expect to see in a good music video. I decided to carry out an unstructured interview, using nopre-set questions as I feel this is deciding whats important before talking to anyone. I wanted it to be a completely informal interview, if anything more like a chat. I spoke to teachers, family and friends.



The advantages of using interviews is the fact it allows us to build rapport with the interviewee. I was also able to clarify anything that was misunderstood, the fact I decided to use an unstructured interviewing style meant we could explore the topics we wanted to allowing me to gain in depth qualitative data. This was much needed as I had gained quantitive data from my survey. Hopefully these interviews have given me a better understanding of what others wanted to see in a good music video. I jotted down important topics and points we discussed and came to the following conclusions:

• I used the words "good music video" a lot in my interviews and in my blog but I soon discovered that is not as straight forward as it sounds. You can not define a ''good'' music video, it completely depends on the song, the aim, message and style of the music video and if those goals were achieved.

•  The meaning of the song must come through in the music video, this is not necessarily what the lyrics say word for word, but the deeper meaning of the song as well as the general feel/emotion in the music must come through in the visuals.

• The camera shots/editing must not be monotonous/motionless, instead the cinematography must flow in time with the music. For example, when the music is soft the camera may be still and the shot may go on for a few seconds. However, at an exciting/powerful point in the song the camera should move fast and quick cuts should be made.