Advanced Portfolio

Jessica Thomas

Question Three: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Evaluation

Audience Feedback

Audience feedback was a key part of the research, planning and production of my media product. During the research stage, we conducted a survey to find out exactly what our target audience wanted and expected. This therefore aided in the planning of the video and ancillary prints, as we had an idea of what norms to challenge in order to create a new and unique product whilst still appealing to the same audience. After the video and prints were finished, it was then essential to conduct audience feedback to find out what worked, what didn’t and how successful we were in the creation of our music video.

The Final Audience Feedback

The final part of audience feedback was completed after the production of both the video and the two ancillary tasks. It was essential to do so to find out where we had/had not succeeded in appealing to the right target audience. This was conducted in several ways;

The audience were given a chance to watch the video, look at the ancillary tasks and then fill out a short questionnaire on what they had just seen.

The video was uploaded to YouTube so anyone from our target audience could watch it and leave their own comment.

Again, the audience were given the chance to watch the video and look at the ancillary tasks. They were then filmed saying a few sentences on what they thought about the overall media product.

The Questionnaire

The questionnaire itself consisted of six small questions which the audience had to answer in as much detail as possible;

1) Do you think the product is typical of a music video? If so in what ways is it similar?

2) Does anything make it different or does it stand out from the typical? How?

3) Does it work? Why?

4) Name two interesting/impressive elements from the video:

5) Could this product be stronger, if so how? (Try to name at least 1 element).

6) Do you think the pace of the video is typical of this kind of product?

The Results1) Do you think the product is typical of a music video? If so in

what ways is it similar?

Yes No0

2

4

6

8 Specific points of similarity the audience highlighted upon include the imagery and performance. They stated the romantic storyline and romantic imagery created by the narrative is typical of the indie acoustic genre. They also commented upon the music itself, saying the presence of a guitar (props) was typical of what they would usually see in a music video of this genre.2) Does anything make it different or does it stand out from the

typical? How?

YesNo

Although a small percentage of the audience asked said no, the video did not stray from the norms, a larger percentage commented on the differences they saw. Most commented upon the theme of weather, how the cinematography used and photographic skills are unusual, which keep it interesting and another highlighted upon the use of different times and locations, adding variety to the video.

The Results3) Does it work? Why?

Out of all the participants asked to complete the survey, 100% commented on it’s success. They highlighted upon how it is interesting to watch as the lyrics/narrative match the music, the cinematography used represents our theme well and the colour theme used in not only the video but the ancillary prints emphasises the calming feel of the song.4) Name two interesting/impressive elements from the video:

Here are a selection of the answers provided by the audience:An interesting element would be the way the video follows the artist singing along with the track. I also really liked the quick shot of the Jess’ eye between other shots; it’s very short but effective.

An impressive element is the use of nature which is used throughout the video which compliments the acoustic guitar used in the song. The minimal use of effects is also an element I feel that enhances the natural feel of the video.

i) The transitions from shot to shot are extremely fluent.ii) The use of similar shots in an effective way

The camera work is particularly impressive in the close up shots.The editing of the whole video keeps the pace perfectly

The Results5) Could this product be stronger, if so how? (Try to name at least 1 element).

Yes No01234567

Here are a few examples of the elements they listed;If the syncing of the video and the song was more accurate, the product would be stronger.The filming done outdoor produces much brighter lighting in contrast to that done indoor, if the lighting was the same it would be more effective.Less close-ups of the singer himself and more of the couple would make the video a stronger media product as it would have made the narrative stronger.

6) Do you think the pace of the video is typical of this kind of product?

Yes

No

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Most of the audience commented on the speed of the transitions between shots, they highlighted upon the fast cuts and fade effects and said the variety kept them interested in watching the rest of the music video. They also commented upon how the pace fits the structure of the song perfectly and therefore the lyrics, narrative and music compliment each other within the video.

In Conclusion; Questionnaire

In conclusion, the audience feedback questionnaire helped myself and the rest of the group to distinguish what worked and what didn’t within our media products. Overall, I feel we were successful in creating a unique yet classic music video which appealed to the correct target audience. Our product was new and innovative, yet not straying too far from the norms of media forms. If I was to repeat this coursework in the future, I would take into account the comments provided and focus on the syncing and lighting in more detail, to produce a more effective media product.

YouTubeIn order to expand our audience feedback further, we thought it was essential to upload the video on YouTube, and let the public make their own individual comments online. The video has 100 views and we received two comments which provided both positive comments and negative criticism;

In Conclusion; YouTube

In conclusion, uploading the video on YouTube aided in developed our audience feedback further. We were able to see what the non-biased public thought of our video and they gave their honest opinions. As highlighted upon in the questionnaire, the lighting used could’ve been brighter, especially for the indoor shots. However as commented upon by the latter commenter, for the genre we chose, our video is relatively successful. Also, the amount of time and funding we had limited our creativity hugely. If there had been more time and money, we would aim to improve the lighting and be more experimental with our locations and cinematography.

Video FeedbackFinally, I conducted a piece of video feedback and here are three examples from this;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsgDWrgJgRE

In conclusion, filming the audience giving their honest opinions of my media products allowed me to gain a deeper and wider understanding of what was successful and what could’ve been developed further. Most of those asked commented upon the theme of nature and how it was successfully achieved, whether it was through the use of snow as a setting or the natural lighting used. Although some did mention how the indoor lighting could’ve been brighter to match the outdoor lighting, overall the video feedback was predominantly positive.

In Conclusion;Video Feedback

Overall Conclusion

Overall, I learnt quite a lot from my audience feedback: the questionnaire, YouTube and video feedback. The answers of the questionnaire conveyed my music video was successful, but there were some aspects which could’ve been improved, for example, more accurate syncing of the audio with the video. The comments on the YouTube video also portrayed success but highlighted the limited lighting and cinematography. If we had more time and money, these are aspects we would develop further in order to create a stronger product. The video feedback also provided a range of positive and negative comments, especially about the strength of the theme of nature and how this was successfully achieved through the variety of seasons/weathers used in our product.