What Have You Learned From

Target Audience Feedback?

Initial Questionnaires and TA Research

Initially during the Research and Planning stage I knew that I would need to carry out a series of different questionnaires and TA research in order to understand how to produce and construct my finals products. These initial TA questions were very beneficial to my work as I established what I would need to included to attract our target audience specifically.

I asked a range of questions within a group about the choice of song, and what ideas I had gathered and created so far, and asked for their input also to manipulate the ideas further. This was successful and how I created a well structured and attractive music video.

TA Feedback

In order to for me to evaluate my work, I decided to ask a variety of different focus groups a selections of questions about my final music video. This was a beneficial way for me to establish exactly how people felt about the music video, and gather information of what the TA enjoyed and didn’t enjoy the most. I asked a variety of different people, and also used social media as a way to broadcast my finished product.

I completed the questionnaire with our final product, and asked around 20 people to analyse it through a series of questions.

Positives About The Final Music Video

I initially asked about things that they liked out of the music video and many of the comments back were similar, which shows that it is a striking music video to the target audience.

In our first drafts, the people we asked said they particularly enjoyed watching the star model and she was confident and brought a sense of realism to the video and the performance element to it.

The people we asked said they liked the performance shots of her, as they were able to connect with her singing into camera and gain a relationship with her emotions.

They said they liked the synergetic shots throughout and the shot types were varied which made the video exciting.

Some said specific shots that they liked such as the flower one, and the location pans of the countryside.

Positives About The Final Music Video Continued…

Other aspects of our music video that people picked up on was the range of colours. Many people said they liked the natural and neutral colours that were used throughout which links it all back to the countryside. It shows a sense of synergy throughout, and it made our star stand out. The colours we used in the video also ment we could use in our promotional package.

Another key factor was the costumes. A few people agreed they liked the costumes as they were simple but quirky at the same time and reflected our star image as a fun person.

Negatives About The Final Music Video

I also asked if there was anything in specific that they didn’t enjoy or like about the music video, and there weren’t really many comments made back about dislikes.

In our first draft, some people said there was a lack of performance shots in different locations, so we decided to shoot some more to improve our video appealing to our target audience.

One male did say that they didn’t understand or enjoy the narrative however, but that is understandable as the video is quite feminine and girly.

Negatives Of The Final Music Video Continued…

An aspect which was picked up on is that in one shot, there was a spider on the camera lens which we hadn’t seen until we started editing, so it was unfortunate that it happened as we couldn’t shoot it again as it would look different (incorrect weather, lighting etc)

During our filming we did not shoot a backwards pan which meant we hadn’t used all the shots we wanted, so we went back and did a second shoot where we specifically shot this missing angle.

TA QuestionnairesOver the different stages, we produced many TA questionnaires.

Here are some of the questionnaires I asked before my planning and construction had begun.

Our first TA Questionnaire was before we’d even started the planning phase, where we played the song to a group of people and asked them a few questions about what they would like to see in the music video etc.

In total we asked 6 people, two male and 4 female, and we received some magnificent feedback about what we could do within our music video.

Here are the questions we asked:

1. What images were iconic to you when you heard these sections of the songs.2. Do you prefer a narrative or a performance based video?3. Do you prefer location shots or studio shots?4. Do you think the song and the ideas we have suits a male or female audience?5. Do you prefer intertextuality within a video?6. Does our star image need to come across as strong and independent?

1. What images were iconic to you when you heard these sections of the songs.This was the first question we asked, where we received some initial ideas of peoples views of the song.

A lot of people agreed that the song was fun and quirky, and that there should be quick cuts to make it catchy and fast flowing.

They thought that there should be a lot of shots of the female, as the song sounded very feminine and girly, appealing to a more female audience.

Many agreed with the fact the location would have to be a key point, and due to the frequent references in the song to the countryside then that would be an ideal location to refer to.

Also, many said the chorus was catchy so to have lots of performance shots too.

2. Do you prefer a narrative or a performance based video?This was an important question for us as it meant we were able to establish what different shots we would need within our music video.

Many people said they enjoy having a narrative in a music video, and a few said they like the performance side of it too.

A lot of people from the group suggested that after hearing our choice of sound, then it would be ideal for us to manipulate a narrative into it, yet also have a lot of performance shots in it too, therefore appealing to a much wider audience.

This is a suggestion that we would thoroughly take on board, as we wanted our music video to appeal to a many peple as possible.

3. Do you prefer location shots or studio shots?

This again is a question which was important as we were able to gather information we needed about planning where to shoot.

As a lot of the group had said they’d prefer a countryside location to be featured in our music video, then we new that we would need a location to shoot, however we asked if they’d want any studio shots too.

A few people said that they didn’t mind whether there were studio shots in it, but a few recommended that we have a few shots inside or in a studio location because then it brings a variety into our video.

4. Do you think the song and the ideas we have suits a male or female audience?

This was a question that had already been spoken and hinted about from the group already. Most people, especially the girls agreed that it would suit a more female audience, however one of the boys in the group said that he would be interested in the song and the video as he enjoyed it.

5. Do you prefer intertextuality within a video?

We asked this question in order to see what we should include in our video as props or costumes or characteristics of themselves.

A lot of people said that intertextuality is something that could be used, especially since our star model is a young female then it would suit it due to our generation.

So we established that the use of phones, or Facebook would be a creative way for us to include intertextuality into our video.

6. Does our star image need to come across as strong and independent?

This question received a lot of feedback, which was extremely helpful for us to start our planning and who to use as a model.

Everyone agreed that our narrative should include her being a strong independent character, and to set an example to the female audience we are producing this for. We agreed that we could manipulate a narrative where she doesn’t follow traditional stereotypes however we did not adhere to that and our storyline consisted of her battling to choose her love for the countryside or her city boy.

So this still meant she would have to be strong to fight with herself in order to make a decision.

TA Questionnaires

The second TA Questionnaire was that I asked 20 people aged between 16-18 to answer a few questions for me about music videos and music.

The questions I asked were:

1. How do you watch music videos?2. Do you listen to a lot of music?3. Do you ever download music? If so where from?4. Do you ever buy CD’s?

I received a lot of feedback from this which I found very helpful.

1. How do you watch music videos?

From my question I found that 18 people watch music videos using You Tube rather than any other option. 10 out of the 18 people were male and the other 8 were female. This portrayed to me that You Tube would be a more suitable place for us to promote our artist and the music video to our audience.

I also found that 1 person watches music videos on music channels which was a female, and 1 person who watches music videos on Spotify who was male. This shows music channels also may be a place for our music video as it is more feminine.

I found that no one watches them on social media so that would not be a place to distribute our video.

2. Do you listen to a lot of music?

From this question I found that 18 of the 20 people do listen to a lot of music, which is due to our ages and generation.

It means that when it comes to our music video being released, it will be heard of rather quickly as a lot of people in our target audience age range listen to music, therefore bettering our distribution and promotion of the artist. 2 people said they did not listen to music very often, which means they may not hear our song immediately.

3. Do you ever download music?

This result was something that was again expected due to our target audiences age, however there are a series of results tied on to this question too. I further went on to ask our target audience if they said yes then what software do they download their music from.

From this question I again got a very large variety of results, which I have had to thoroughly go through and analyse.

3. If so, where from? I leant a lot from this as it required a lot of analysis, however I can now understand the main places where our audience download their music from which means we can include these on our ancillaries. I have found that 8 people used spotify to download music, 3 being male and 5 being female. Also, I found that 1 person used playtube, which is a software that I have never heard of. It may be something that we could consider, however 1 in 20 of our target audience said they use this so it may not be worth it. 5 people have used iTunes, which is a popular software to use, and is something that we could quite easily upload our song and music video to for people to buy. 2 people used an internet converter, and they were both male which shows that they'd rather download songs for free. 1 person used illegal apps which is something that is highly questionable, and worrying that our music video could also be illegally downloaded for free too, going against all the piracy rules. 1 person used google play, 1 person used amazon prime and 1 person used tubidy. These are all fair places to download music from, and are fairly recent in the industry, so may not be as popular yet, however we can consider using these to put our video onto.

4. Do you ever buy CDs?

I leant many things from the final question was something we needed to know as we are creating a digipak for our artist. 15 people told us that they do not buy CD's any longer, which is scary as they would not be interested in our music video or our digipak. 2 people told us that they do, and they were both male which meant we could target a male audience with our digipak, and 2 people said they do sometimes, and they were female. This suggests that there could be a target audience out there but we may have to be very specific to what they like, and we may have to ask a few more questions about what they might like on a CD digipak ect.

TA QuestionnairesHere are some of the questionnaires I asked after the construction phase, in order to get feedback on the final products.

The first one was a questionnaire I sent via text message about the first rough cut of our music video.

I initially sent this to a female member of our target audience in the hope for some target audience feedback. I received a large amount of feedback in which I found extremely helpful.

Rough Cut Questionnaire

Here was some of the feedback that I received from it.

It was positive that her initial reactions were good, and that she loved the music video. It made us as a pair feel honoured to have produced such a great piece of work.

Our female understood what the narrative was that we intended as well, which meant that we had successfully achieved what we were trying to get across.

Rough Cut Questionnaire

She also told me that she thoroughly liked the part in the video where we had a shot of Frankie (Heather) throwing leaves into the camera in slow motion and then shot shot immediately after in reverse.

We left the sound on this shot in order for the music video to have some diegetic sound in it, and also because it creates such a wonderful effect. Now I know that the audience like it then we will maintain this.

Rough Cut Questionnaire

She also agreed that she liked the lighting and thought it was okay. I found that this was quite a vague answer so I also asked a few other people on the lighting however they agreed it was really good which helped me understand whether to leave it.

She also made a comment on the cardboard saying lost and found and that she enjoyed that too which I was extremely happy about.

Rough Cut Questionnaire

I also asked another female for some feedback, who is part of a career within IT and Media development. She is extremely skilled in this department and I knew she could give me some wonderful comments, and so on. However, anything she did say I took on board that she is a lot older than the target audience we were originally thinking of, however if this appealed to her too then we knew our video could target many more people as well.

Rough Cut Questionnaire

Here was some feedback she gave to me, which I found interesting.

She successfully understood the narrative which means that our video is constructed well with continuity.

But she also gave us a few suggestions, such as some black and white shots. We did actually try this however it seemed to be a little confusing for the audience afterwards as some people mistook them for flashbacks or memories. So we decided to remove them but for future reference include them.

Rough Cut Questionnaire

She also suggested some side view close ups, which were interesting comments however we didn’t have time to soot any extra shots. However this again could be something to improve on and at least will give us a more wider range of shots.

She was also convinced that the model Heather was singing it, which shows that the syncing of the music video was perfect and flowed consistently.

TA Questionnaires

The second questionnaire was on our final music video, which was helpful to see what they liked and disliked.

The questions that we asked were:

1. Did the performance shots enable you to to identify the star image?2. Were there enough close ups of the main star image?3. Did you understand the narrative?4. What did you think about the star image representation?5. Was the editing clear to see? e.g. cuts, transitions6. Did you like any of the costumes or locations?7. Would this music video interest you in any of her other music?

1. Did the performance shots enable you to identify the star image?

Out of the 15 people that I asked, all 15 said the were able to identify her. I got a lot of positive feedback from this; most people explained that due to the good quality and well arranged close up shots they were able to establish who the main star image was. Everyone understood that Frankie (Heather) was our main star image from the shots which we have portrayed.They enjoyed watching her on both close up shots and other variations of shots also. This made me establish that not only is our star recognisable in close ups, but she also is in long shots too which means she must have an impacting image.Many people were also captured by the shots of the locations etc that we portrayed.

2. Were there enough close ups of the main star image?

I learnt a lot from this question that ties back mainly into the feedback I received for question 1. Many people praised the way we portrayed our star image through the use of shot types, particularly through close ups. I am extremely proud that we have successfully achieved this.

3. Did you understand the narrative?This was a question in which we had a little mixed feedback, however none the less most people managed to catch onto the gist of the storyline we represented. Our story was a basic narrative of the young girl battling between her own thoughts and being divided between choosing her country side or her city boy. This caused some confusion; some people fully understood the narrative, whereas some people questioned it and didn't understand. Some people couldn't quite understand why she couldn't make her mind up, and as an active audience presumed her previous stories. None the less people understood that there were two lovers, and she battled her choice between.

The 2 people who didn’t understand were male, showing our audience is more for females.

4. What did you think about the star image representation?

Many people agreed she was reflected as a typical young woman that pursues the country style. Words such as fun, quirky and beautiful were mainly used throughout this question. Some people stereotyped her as a typical woman not being able to make up her mind up.

The feedback we received though was great, and we had produced a strong character in the narrative.

5. Was the editing clear to see throughout, such as cuts and transitions?

Feedback throughout this question was positive. Everyone agreed that the editing we have portrayed throughout the music video is amazing, and several people picked out particular things and elements. One person said they particularly liked the shot of the flower and how we had edited it to look slow motion.

They told me that it almost gave off the effect that the flower was physically growing in front of the camera.

They also said they liked the leaf section where Frankie (Heather) threw the leaves into the camera which we cranked to be slow motion, and then we reversed the shot and copied it after to give off a throwing into and back shot. It was very creative and shows how we progressed our editing skills.

Another person said they liked how all of the shots were cut to the beat, and this made the video quick and quirky.

6. Did you like any of the costumes or locations in specific?

This question that was positive. People complimented our choices of locations dramatically. Near enough every location we used had a positive comment about, especially the wintry countryside and the beautiful sunlight shot of the countryside too. It was lovely to have such positive comments back about the locations as it was difficult for us to produce. Also our costume choice had some extraordinarily positive feedback too. One person liked the black coat that Frankie (Heather) was wearing during some of our shots, and they also liked how Myles was wearing a tweed jacket which has connotations of the country, none the less also made him look very smart and sophisticated as he was from the city life culture.

TA QuestionnairesI also conducted some questionnaires that were a little more vague and simple about my digipak construction, where I typically asked a couple of members of the class what they’d prefer or not on the digipaks. From previous research I knew what conventions to use, but it was often helpful to ask as I was creating it to see if anything should change.

Here are some examples of questions I asked:

How Did Our TA Feedback Influence Our Target Market?

As we initially conducted TA Research we typically asked people around 16-18 as we though that would be our specified age range for the music video. However the more TA Questionnaires we did, the more vast our audience became, and the oldest person who I asked about the video was 60+ and thoroughly enjoyed it and the song, showing that we have targeted a much larger audience than anticipated.

Also, a more rural audience would have been our target market, as all of our shots were in Lincolnshire, many residents would want to watch the music video in order to then see the towns and villages that feature.

Things I have learntFrom completing my TA research and gathering all of the different feedback, I have leant so much over the different phases of my course.

From my first questionnaires before the planning, I learnt many things such as; what images they wanted to see, whether they preferred a narrative or performance based video, whether they wanted a studio or location based shot type, which gender the song suited, whether they wanted to see intertextuality and details about the star image.

Whereas from my further questionnaires which was feedback on my final products I received things such as; whether there were enough close ups, whether they understood the narrative, details on the star image and the representations, opinions on the editing and their preference of costumes and locations.

Also the feedback on my promotional package has been extremely helpful as I have contributed a lot of my time to completing them.