Audience Profile Research Task- The Kooks

An audience profile of a performer/band can sometimes be constructed and based on what the band's traits are and what can be assumed from their audience.

Assumed Audience for The Kooks

• 16-28 years old because of when the band first emerged, and the genre of "indie" is generally associated with this age group. 
• Female and male audience as the band and music does not carry any gender stereotype. 
• Fashion that is similar to that of the band. e.g smart casual clothes including denim jeans and shirts.
• Interests such as music festivals and the outdoors as many of the bands songs relate to nature e.g. the song "seaside". 
• Music taste would be within the indie genre. For example Bombay Bicycle Club, Foals etc.

 Young and Rumbicams 4Cs

Young and Rubicam's 4Cs are based upon Maslows hierarchy of needs. They have designed a research tool to find out where people stood within it. The four C's stands for Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation and divides people into seven types depending on their core motivation. The seven types are; "The Explorer" who seeks Discovery, "The Aspirer" who seeks status, "The Suceeder" who seeks control, "The Reformer" who seeks enlightenment, "The Mainstreamer" who seeks security, "The Struggler" who seeks escape, and "The Resigned" who seeks survival. These basic motivations fit into Maslows hierarchy of needs pyramid as pictured. Maslows theory was that once one had reached the bottom layer of "needs" they could then look on to the next layer. For example according to Maslow your main priority would not be love if you had not allready fullfilled your need for safety.


Young & Rubicam offer an online test which asks 50 detailed questions to determine which of the seven people you are. I took the test and came out with the result of discovery as my core need in life. Therefore I am classed into "The Explorer". The website stated that: "These people are driven by a need for discovery, challenge and new frontiers. Young in nature, if not in reality, Explorers are often the first to try out new ideas and experiences. They respond to brands that offer new sensations, indulgence and instant effects. In short, difference is what they seek out. Their core need in life is DISCOVERY." Here is the table I received with my result:

 This table shows my main value Discovery with 34.1, however my secondary value is Enlightenment with 21.7. I scored lowly on Security and Survival with -20.8 and -25.4 which are huge minuses to have. Evidently this means I have met these needs thoroughly. I found this table extremely interesting- to see my values and needs displayed out in order and against each other. It has allowed me to compare what is really important to me and discover what "kind" of person I am.

 This is the description of my result. I feel the category of "The explorer" and seeking Discovery does fit me well. I feel that the line "Life is a voyage of discovery, an adventure, an experiment" fits my outlook on life very well as this is how I perceive life to be and have said similar to others in the past. I also found that having the characteristic of being very indecisive also fits me well, and routines do bore me easily, also "discovering new and exciting people/music/films/places/way to do things" is something I extremely enjoy and spend allot of my time doing. Therefore I feel that the Young and Rubican test has segmented me accurately and would be ideal for identifying an audience profile.

I think that a Kooks fan would also fit this profile, I am a fan and I certainly do! However I conducted a survey on www.surveymonkey.co.uk for Kooks fans to test this. I posted this to the social networking sites of Twitter and Facebook, and also sent the email to some fans I knew. I also tweeted the survey to the twitter "official fan site" of The Kooks.

Here are the results in the form of pie graphs I composed to show my results to each question from the survey:

Results from AmazonRose

Please fill out this short survey!

Short survey for any Kooks fan

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FYTL6CY

Music video Analysis: Anna Calvi- Desire

I have chosen to analyse the section 2:05-2:35 of Anna Calvi's music video "desire" directed by Aoife Mcardle.

The section begins with a silhouette and a shadow of either the artist or another, the identity is left unknown and unexplained. The use of shadows and the unknown all add to the overall mysterious and dark natured theme of the video. Also in this screenshot the predominant colours are used which appear throughout the music video. Red and black often link to emotions such as passion and anger, and carry connotations of darker thoughts, secrets, danger, blood and lust- which links with the song title "desire".

The next shots feature religiously linked elements, such as cherubs and candles as seen in this screenshot. The candle which can also symbolize romance is featured next to a dark coloured skull. This again emphasises the theme of passion and danger fusing together. There is a great contrast between light and dark here and provides the video with a flickering, ever changing light.

The shots then focus on the artist again, as this video I feel is both performance and concept based the artist features heavily throughout. At this point the music also slows as the artist sings the line "only the lonely" and the visuals accompany this as the camera is zoomed out to a wider angle, allowing the artist to seem "alone" in a wider framing. The viewer also notes that again the colours red are used to dress the artist.

The next shot introduces a seascape painting hanging on the wall. This is cut between very quick shots of the artist and accompanied by the growing tempo and volume of the music and involvement of guitar. The colours of the painting are calming and contrasting to the previous shots, and introduce a grey pallete that stands out against a warm, shadowy background. The frame is ornate which suggests importance, wealth and encourages the viewer to focus on it.

The following shot shows the artists heavily made up eye- suggesting femininity and the darker colour framing an eye suggests a dark perspective. The eye opens and is focused away from the camera, the pupil darkens and grows to an unnaturally large size. This has connotations with evil, magic, fantasy or perhaps hallucinogenic drugs. The idea of hallucination fits in well with the chaotic scene and previous shots, the darkness and "evil" images or references could suggest a dark dream.

The final shot cuts quickly to the painting again, but with an increase in volume as the painting comes to life and waves crash about the frame. This acts as a climax to this section and is accompanied by an increase in tempo and the start of the chorus.