Questionnaire Results Analysis

The first two questions on the questionnaire were to distinguish the gender and age of the people who were being surveyed. I managed to get 15 males and 15 females to answer the questionnaire of which there were varying age gaps.

The following question was “Have you ever listened to a music parody?” This question would help me to realize how popular parodies were amongst the people I surveyed.  25 of the 30 people I surveyed had listened to at least one parody before with 5 admitting they had never listened to one.
As the rest of my questionnaire revolves around the knowledge, opinions, and preferences of people who HAVE listened to parodies, the 5 who answered “No” did not need to finish the rest of the survey.

The following question was to discover what draws them to listen to parodies the most. Over half of the results came back as the thing they find most enjoyable is the amusing lyrics, with a split between the remainder who prefer the funny video that accompanies the song and the fact the parody artist is taking the mess out of one of their favourite artists. Overall, people are more drawn to liking a parody song due to the amusing lyrics. This gave the urge to create a song with strong relatable/funny lyrics.

The next question that was asked was “Do you prefer a music parody when there is a video to accompany the song?” The vast majority said “Yes, it makes it more appealing” with only a few saying “No, it doesn’t really bother me”. This implies that for people to enjoy a parody song even more, they crave an amusing video too to go with it.

“How do you access parody music songs” was the question afterwards. The vast majority expressed that they gain access to parodies through the use of the internet from sites such as YouTube. Radio was another popular answer and through my own knowledge, I know certain radio shows such as The Radio 1 Breakfast Show, previously hosted by DJ Chris Moyles, used to feature parodies very frequently. Only a few people responded saying they accessed them via TV. The lack of responses for that answer suggests that not many parodies even make it to TV broadcast, often they remain solely on the internet. The demand for parodies on TV is not that high compared to other genres and styles so only a select few parody artists who have become ‘big names’ such as Weird Al Yankovic appear on TV shows alongside your everyday pop artists. Smaller, lesser known parody artists don’t get as much TV recognition and therefore their work is primarily accessed via the internet. A few people answered in the questionnaire that although they don’t personally go and retrieve a parody song a listen to head, they are secondary listeners as their friends and family often play a song for them to listen to if they feel they will like it.

The subsequent question asked, “How do you go about finding new parodies?” The results showed that people listen to a parody song then go tell other people about it on a regular basis. This is shown by the fact many people answered “Notified by other people”. This suggests that for a parody artist to achieve success, one of the main points for them in achieving such success is the distribution of individuals spreading the word about them and their songs. Word of mouth is a vital tool in the success of a parody artist. It only takes one person to discover a song and in a matter of minutes that one person could have shared the link to the song on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter which can amount to hundreds, sometimes thousands of people which the link is now in front of.
Another answer from this question which achieved a great amount of responses was “searching for a parody artist you’ve heard before”, this suggests that once an individual recognises a parody artist for the first time, they will continue to check up to see if that artist has released any more material. Therefore it is vitally important for an artist to release early on, material that is of superior quality and something that is easily remembered by potential audience members in order to continue achieving success through popularity.
The other two answers for this question were pretty split. “Searching for an existing song you like and adding the word ‘parody’” proved to be a popular result also. Therefore, parody artists should take into consideration the profile of the song in which they are parodying. For example, an original song from someone who is massively popular and mainstream will achieve much more success that an original song from someone who is not that well known. This is due the fact audience members will search for songs of their favourite artists and add the word ‘parody’. There are often millions of fans of the mainstream artists, of which a proportion may come into contact with the parody artists’ material however if the song which is parodied is not from a mainstream artist, it will not gain much notification and gratification from as many fans of the original.
And many people just come across parodies unintentionally, according to my findings.

Weird Al Yankovic proved to be the most common parody artist people were familiar with when asked in my questionnaire. He is a very high profile parody artist, one of whom who has achieved great success from parodying a broad range of songs from the most popular mainstream artists. Another popular result was Chris Moyles, with many of the people I surveyed admitting they heard his songs whilst he was a DJ on BBC Radio 1. Chris Moyles and his Radio 1 team created many parody songs which were played on the show as well as releasing two parody albums.
‘The Key of Awesome’ was another answer which featured heavily. The Key of Awesome is a web series by ‘Barely Political’, of which they have released a number of pop culture songs which have proved popular with people around the world.
 

Chris Moyles, Weird Al Yankovic & The Key of Awesome

For one of my ancillary tasks, I am looking at creating a website homepage for my parody band ‘Nizzle Flips’, so as part of my questionnaire I asked the question “What would you expect to feature on a parody artists’ website?” in order for me to see what people will look for most on a website. The most frequent response was for videos of the bands’ parody music videos and the lyrics so that they can learn them and then sing along to the songs. People would also like to view a gallery of images from the band including a number of behind the scenes images as well as videos. They would also like to receive information on the band members through the use of bio’s and blogs in order to be able to learn more about the band. In addition to the parody videos, a number of people suggested that the original videos should be placed directly next to the parody ones so that people can compare the two. Something that wasn't mentioned by any of the people I surveyed was 'merchandise, however, this is something I will plan on putting into my website. 

Questionnaire Results

I surveyed 30 people (15 male, 15 female) by handing out paper questionnaires. Here are the results, shown using graphs. 

Questionnaire (Filled In)

Here is an example of my questionnaire which has been filled in. 30 of these were handed out.

Actors, Locations, Costume and Props

ActorsMy song contains 2 vocalists, my friends Tom and Andy. Therefore, in the video, these are the two people who will feature throughout. In addition to this I will also need several people for cameo roles. This is due to the fact my songs' lyrics mention a 'mum' as well as the idea of preparing breakfast in bed for that 'special someone'.

LocationAs the song is predominantly based around breakfast, the main feature of the video will be shot in my house using the living room, dining room and most importantly, the kitchen. I am also looking into opportunities to film elsewhere for little snippets in the video.

CostumesThe two main actors (Andy and Tom), will be wearing a collection of different costumes. For the start of the video, where my idea is for myself to be asleep on the sofa whilst Tom is trying to wake me up, I have decided that both of us will wear a 'onesie'. This is because I am classing this as nightwear and first thing in a morning, people will often wear this kind of outfit.
Then as the song and the video progresses, the outfits will change to more casual, everyday wear. I am also planning the use of chef whites and aprons at certain stages in the video to coincide with the lyrics.
The cameo roles in the song of the mum and the love interest will wear typical costume that people would wear in everyday life. I am still undecided at this stage whether to use a teenage girl to play the mum, in which I would find a costume to dress them in to make them look like a stereotypical mum, or whether I will simply use someone of a 'mum age'. The 'love interest', is to be laid in bed, and they are to be wearing a dressing gown as one of either myself or Tom deliver breakfast in bed.

Props
There are a range of props I will use in this video. As the song is about Crumpets, they will feature heavily along with various other food items that are mentioned in the lyrics. I will also require the use of kitchen items such as a microwave and a toaster.