The agenda of the focus group I held yesterday was to see how different individuals felt about the interaction different music video’s as listed below. I had 4 students from the Narrative and Interactive Masters attend and I am very glad that two of these students are on the Interactive design course. The session took place in The Broadway Lounge at 2pm.
One thing that was obvious before the session started, and was then agreed upon by the other’s, was how impressive all the video’s were once projected onto a larger screen. However impressive this was, these video’s are not made with the intention of being so large but of being viewed and played with on a computer monitor. But it did feel more like a real experience when seen on such a scale.
The Placebo video ‘The Never Ending Why’ was liked for the animation element, the student’s from Interactive designs claimed it wasn’t and interactive music video but more like an interactive narrative to music. Complaints heard was that it took time in each scene to know what exactly you had control over and that the story remains the same regardless of your input therefore you don’t really have control and it is in no way personal. And that the animation and story is impressive enough and is actually ruined by the interactive element as it is only a distraction. All attendees claimed they would not watch it again or show their friends.
We then moved onto Arcade Fire’s The Wilderness Downtown Project. One of our attendees put in his old home address and the video began. I could see here that they all looked a lot more impressed and interested.It was really exciting for the student to see his house street and the house he grew up in as well as for the others to be excited to see where he used to live. After watching the program he claimed he would save it and send or show it to the rest of his family as he believed they would equally like the video. So already it is doing it’s job as a marketing tool as people are very willing to share to people of different ages. They also liked that it was more of a linear video and most of the interaction took place before the video started so we could sit back and enjoy the video. Was claimed that it held just the right amount of interaction with the post card drawing part. It was also felt that this video reached out on a more personal level.The design of the numeral pop up windows was also favoured over the other layouts. The only complaint made about this video was that one of the participants felt it would have been better if the colouring of google maps matched the rest of the video to being it together a bit more. A comment made later on in the session was that this video only works well because the song is relatively mainstream and easy to listen to and inoffensive in any way, therefore mutual to all ages and cultures.
Next we looked at OK GO’s All is Not Lost. It was liked by all but not preferred over the Arcade Fire video. The complaints were that the interactive element wasn’t needed for the video. Although it was a cool video it lacked the personal effect the Wildrness downtown project had. Their views on this video suprised me as I absolutely love it. But they said the message part is good as you can pass it on to others however it was missing something more personal. One of the participants made the comment that the best way people share these video’s is through facebook. So it is essential that at the end you can share your customised video or the message. As like the Wilderness Downtown Project, this video allows the user to do that, hence spreading the video faster across the internet and therefore an excellent marketing tool.
Cold War Kids I’ve Seen Enough, appeared to get the most fun reaction from everyone. The experience was the most enjoyable as everyone was getting involved. Straight away though it was decided that this was definitely not to be called a music video but more like an ‘interactive song/performance’ were the user is given the control to change the music. And with many different options the user can spend hours almost creating their own track. It was labelled very addictive for this reason. You can listen to different versions of the same song or mix and match, or switch off any instrument you liked. However it lacks in being personal and a comment was made that although their are many different combinations, the wilderness downtown project combination is almost endless and you can put 100′s of different postcodes. Another comment was that the Cold War Kids video stays constantly interactive throughout the video, however you really have to enjoy the song because on mute you won’t get anything from it.
Then we got round to watching ‘Keep Your Head Up‘ by Andy Grammer. Like other video’s online you choice options and therefore the narrative continues from your choice. However unlike most of these video, a new video doesn’t open after you’ve clicked on your choice. It is all held in one video and therefore it is more immersive as the song isn’t broken up. The general video was admired however all agreed that there was no personal element to the video. All participants claimed they would probably play it again and again in order to see all the different outcomes, however they wouldn’t share it on facebook or tell their peers. One of the participants compared it to a book she used to have which had different options and therefore changing the story completely. She said the difference with this video is you cannot change the end and the end is the most important. Although interactive everyone agreed it wasn’t personal and you were not given a lot of control. And that although there were not breaks in the song it was still a distraction.
We also looked at Professor Green’s video ‘Coming to Get Me‘ and everyone liked it but had no intention to watch it again. They felt that you should be able to interact with it more not just by watch you can see but also control which rooms you can go into or that if could have been made more personal.
This focus group has really helped in forming my own ideas, I have more of an idea of how people feel about different interactive elements and what it takes to work as a marketing tool. I will definitely be looking into the pop up screens as this was most favoured as well as try and tap into an emotional area of the user by making the video personal and reachable because this seems to have the best impact on the viewer.
