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Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The audience I decided to attract for my music video and print tasks is primarily males, but also females, between the ages of 16 and 24. A stereotypical audience profile would demonstrate them to be of working/middle class, most likely in education such as university. In order to attract this audience, I use a young main actor, and dressed them accordingly to what this audience would most likely wear and like. The narrative can be seen from a social class issue standpoint, as the ‘thug’ at the end of the video pops the innocent girl’s last balloon. This type of audience would be very interested in this issue being portrayed, as they themselves can be seen as hooligans or criminals from a societal view. The narrative is the main focus in my music video, which would appeal to them greatly as this audience would be likely to watch films and listen to music to escape from their daily lives. This audience listens to Indie/rock music, and therefore are less interested in ‘mainstream’ music and videos, and I have tried to keep this in mind when developing the concept and choosing a song, as I needed to pick something that would not be viewed as mainstream.

Throughout this project I felt it would be important to gain feedback from audiences, as being provided with another opinion would help develop and improve your work. I found that asking my target audience, as well as peers, gave me great insight to how a viewer would interpret the music video and the print tasks. It was incredibly helpful to gain feedback from anyone, as it allowed me to know if I was making the best product I could.

One example of helpful feedback I gained was during the process of editing my music video. I showed the video to various peers and a teacher and they gave me constructive criticism about the video and the shots. They gave me specific examples of new camera shots I could film, such as a close-up on the converse the actress was wearing, and this helped me decide that I had to do a second shoot for my music video. Without this important feedback I may not have filmed a second shoot, which would have left me with much less interesting camera shots. This therefore proves how essential audience feedback is, because little comments and opinions can influence major decisions about production and editing a product to make it its best.

Throughout the whole stage of the construction of the projects, I used feedback to ensure I was improving my work. Even if it was something small that seemed insignificant, like asking for a member of my audience to come over and evaluate something I had just completed, this still helped me make sure I was on the right path in attracting my audience. In many of my diary posts I mention instances where a member of my audience or a peer has commented on a piece of my work and suggested areas for improvement. For example, during the process of making my magazine advert I asked a 21 year old female, whom listens to my relevant genre, what she thought I could add to the magazine advert as I had a blank space which needed filling. She suggested adding a subtitle of “OUT NOW”, because she said she sees this a lot on magazine adverts she likes. This was a small but significant comment that added an extra element to my music video, and quickly led to me putting the finishing touches on the advert.

Overall I found that audience feedback was hugely helpful throughout the creation of my main product and ancillary tasks. However, I feel as though it would have been helpful for me to have held a focus group where my target audience would assess and review my work, as this is a frequently used by a variety of industries and could have been very useful. When looking at my final products I am pleased that I gained and used the improvements suggested by different audiences, as it allowed me to broaden my mind about what to include in my products. It also allowed me to stay focused about who I was targeting these products at, and the best ways I could do this.