WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

BY MAISIE LEGG

WHO MY TARGET AUDIENCE IS• As my chosen genre is pop, my target audience is quite wide. However I mainly focused on

both genders of an age range of 16-25. The targeted demographic was C2DE as it was a story of an underdog, overcoming adversity. It would still appeal to an ABC1 bracket however. Due to the nature of the story it appeals to a patriotic audience who enjoys sport. This can be seen from my chosen focus group

USES AND GRATIFICATIONS • Every media product has its intended audience and meanings. This can be seen through the products

uses and gratifications.

• Uses and Gratifications Theory is a popular approach to understanding mass communication. The theory places more focus on the consumer, or the audience, instead of the actual message itself by asking “what people do with media” (Katz, 1959). It assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The theory also holds that audience are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs. The approach suggests that people use the media to fulfil specific gratifications. This theory would then imply that the media compete against other information sources for viewers gratification. (Katz, E. Blumler, J.G & Gurevitch.

HOW IT WORKSBasic Model Examples in research Examples In Products

Identify Katy Perry- If We Ever Meet Again, a prominent role model for females all over the world.

Underdog story

Educate Charlie Puth- We Don’t Talk Anymore, looks at a break up from both genders.

Informs about the Invictus Games

Entertain Watching Ella Eyre play with her friends in the supermarket and travel around the world.

Watching the recovery and journey of the soldier

Social Interaction Anticipation for Adele’s album 25. Talk about the Invictus Games and when it’s next on, how impressive the soldiers are.

WHY MY FOCUS GROUP WAS USEFUL• My constant interaction with my focus group really helped me get across the narrative I wanted.

Through constant questioning and tweaking I was able to get my preferred meaning of my narrative across, this was due to my target audience identifying what was confusing and I was then able to change that. For example in the original cut of the opening scene my focus group did not really understand what was going on, to rectify this I reshot the scene and changed the shot types and editing to make it much clearer. Another helpful aspect was asking both media and non-media students, I received a range of opinions and I found that the non-media students enjoyed different parts of the video to the media students.

Still Image from First Draft Still Image from Final Edit

RESEARCH• My target audience were vital to my creative decisions throughout the process. I decided to name my

album after a year, as through my research (albums such as 1991, 1975, 25, 1989, 1999) I noticed that this was a common motif in albums throughout all genres and not just my chosen one. I decided to apply this idea to my products and from my audience feedback I know that I was successful, as many said that the album was similar to Adele, thus meaning my preferred meaning had successfully gotten across.

PLATFORMS FOR MY MUSIC VIDEO• Another vital piece of information my audience research gave me was what platform to upload my

music video to. Most of my target audience watch their music videos online on YouTube, or on TV. As none of my subjects picked Vimeo (the platform I initially used) I decided to switch. This benefitted me as I found Vimeo very tricky to use and not very user friendly.

CHOOSING BETWEEN THE ADVERTS• I found two images very effective as an advert so I made an advert for both images to go with my

promotion, as I could not decide I used my audience feedback to decide. My audience preferred the one you see on my blog now. Both contained all the conventions of a music magazine advert, however my audience felt the chosen one strengthened the branding of my promotion more.

VS

CHOSEN ADVERT SECOND ADVERT

BRANDING• My target audience for the most part identified a strong sense of branding throughout my products. To

do this I tweaked the colour scheme across all three of my products as well as keep the same two fonts throughout all of the products. After giving my focus group a choice they chose the font they felt matched the artists brand, however the numbers in this font did not match the brand identity of my artist. To overcome this problem I found another font that’s numbers looked similar to the original font and with the approval of my focus group used it for the serial numbers and album name of my products.

STUART HALL• Most of my focus group got the preferred meaning of my text, I believe this was due to the props and

locations used in tandem with the sound effects used at the beginning of the video. The people from my questionnaire who had a negotiated meaning still understood the overall message from the video, I believe this is because they were of a different generation to my target audience.

MICHAEL SHORE• I believe my inspiration came through in my video without it being a ""recycled style"" as Michael Shore

states, but more an example of audiovisual poetry, this can be seen through my audience feedback as some responses did notice the similarities to Waiting All Night, however most did not. This shows that the music video really was inspiration, not a straight copy, the same with the ancillary products, though people did identify Adele as a similarly Rihanna and Beyoncé were also suggesting supporting that the genre is of a pop nature.

FURTHER FEEDBACK• The most useful aspect of my audience feedback was the immediate feedback. I received my audiences

feedback directly which allowed me to change aspects quickly and efficiently. This really helped me fine tune my products to get them to engage with their target audience. Another example of me asking my focus group for their opinion was over the inside cover of the Digipak. They decided they preferred it to be black and white with red lips, they said this strengthened the brand identity. They also chose the filter for the flashback scene in the music video.