Question 3: What is your opinion of using a split screen on a music video with two storylines going on? Target audience research questionnaire.

The results:

What is your opinion of using a split screen on a music video with two storylines going on?

Positive opinion Negative opinion.

Individual answers:

One member of the target audience research group suggested that it was a good idea although it ’may get confusing for the audience’. This highlights to us that if we use the split screen it should not be too frequently and also make perfect sense with in the storyline.

Another said that we shouldn’t use the split screen because it is too ‘complicated’. Because the majority answered that we should include a split screen I think we should include one to please the majority. However; if we do, it should only be included once and perhaps be on introduced to show the artist singing into camera with a sad expression and then in editing we will add a split screen showing his love interest with another man. The idea that the artist is singing about his heartbreak is then explicit. I think it may be too confusing to try to imply that two actions are happening at the same time. A split screen works better to show the connection between two shots.

This split screen shows a romantic couple. We could use the editing technique in this way for our music video. It shows the couple physically distanced from each other. However, the man looks as though he still has her on his mind (connoted by the split screen) whereas the woman appears to be looking over him, not interested. This could be used in our narrative as the female is more vacant whereas the male has an unrequited love for her.

Other ideas…

A split screen is used here to introduce the artists (characters) in the beginning of the music video. It was suggested in our target audience focus group (On SoundCloud) that we introduce the female first however we can’t do that because we have to introduce the start that we are launching first. Although we could show both on a split screen at the beginning of the music video.

One also suggested ‘if it was memories yes’. This statement complies with my idea on the previous slide to show the artist reminiscing. The fact that one of the target audience members has specifically highlighted this shows that we should consider this idea.

In conclusion…

Many suggested that the use of a split screen would be ‘interesting’ and ‘complex’ although it also may be ‘confusing’ and ‘hard to follow at times’