What Have You Learnt From Your Audience Feedback?

Evaluation Q3

Target Audience Our target audience is a mass audience considering the fact that Bastille is

a popular band. In addition the indie-pop genre is large and so this widens the size of our audience. The age of our audience varies. Our main target audience is mid-teens to late 20s. This is because we believe that they relate to this music more and this is also Bastille’s original target audience. We did not target our products to a particular genre; we decided that both genders would enjoy our products. The female gender may enjoy our products due to being able to relate more to the protagonist considering she is female also. Males may enjoy the products if they can relate to the lyrics of the song or gain voyeuristic pleasure from watching the protagonist. Our music video and related products will appeal to all ethnicities, although it may appeal to White British more as that is the ethnicity of actors on all of the products. Our products will mainly be used for an entertainment value which links to the ‘Uses and Gratifications’ theory. It may also be used for the development of personal identity if the audience relates to the song on a personal level.

In order for our products to meet our audience’s expectations, we asked for their opinions of the music video and the ancillaries. We then took these opinions into consideration in order to improve them.

Music Video First Draft Opinions

Music Video First Draft Opinions

Our Response To ThisWe took these comments into consideration and decided to make

the narrative clearer by adding more audition type shots. Due to being unable to find anyone to be in our video to audition, we decided to add extra shots of the actor being told what to do and some clapperboard shots. The director shots imply it is an audition as they would only appear in the audition and not the narrative part. The clapperboard shows the audition number and has the word audition on which makes it extremely clear that the narrative is partially an audition. Linking to Blumler and Katz’s ‘Uses and Gratifications’, it was essential for the audience to understand our narrative as they would view it for entertainment purposes.

We also repositioned some of the shots so that the heads of the actors were no longer cut off. This made the overall look much more professional and mean that the shots are framed correctly.

We also re-filmed some of the shots that were badly out of sync. We did however leave some slightly out of sync as part of the audition. This was purposeful so that it wasn’t as clean cut as the narrative section and it looked more like an imperfect audition.

Our Response

We took several of these shots with different take numbers on. This was done to make it clearer that it was an audition without adding extra people in that are auditioning.

We also added a few shot o the director redirecting the singer to the right lyrics. This makes it clearer that it is an audition as the director is guiding it.

Music Video Second Draft Opinions

Music Video Second Draft Opinions

Our Response The audience agreed that the added shots helped to establish the

narrative which improved the overall video.Many of them commented on the lip syncing being slightly out but we

explained to them why we left some of the shots slightly out to indicate an imperfect audition. This links to Hall’s Reception Theory. The theory focuses on the role of the audience in the interpretation and suggests that audiences have an active role in reading media texts. Hall states that media texts are polysemic and the meanings can be read differently by different people due a number of factors including identity, cultural knowledge and opinions. The audience can take a preferred, oppositional or negotiated stance. Our preferred reading was that the out of sync shots added to the audition aspect of the narrative by showing that she is not perfect at lip syncing. However, many of the audience took an oppositional reading of our music video and thought that the bad lip syncing made it look unprofessional. After explaining our idea, the audience took an oppositional view. they agreed that those that are slightly out do add to the narrative but some still thought that it still wouldn’t work. We decided to re-film some of the shots that were badly out of sync but leave some a little out.

We added some extra shots of the practising as suggested to add a wider range of shots and shot types. We also added a lyrical overlay and a countdown in order to break up the longer shots and add some variation to the narrative.

Our Response

To make the narrative even clearer, we added a few more shots. These varied from the singer practising at home, to reading her notes and them being stuck on the window. This added some shot variety as well as ensuring that the narrative was made even clearer. We asked the audience for one final opinion and they agreed that this did make the narrative even clearer.

CD Cover Opinions

CD Cover Opinions

Our Response The audience believed that the font of the front cover was innovative and

well placed. They thought that the black and white aspect was a little too boring and not eye-catching so we decided to ensure that the back had some element of colour. They then agreed that this made it more interesting to look at.

Despite this, they expressed concerns of the colour of the back not fitting with the black and white aspect of the insert. To make sure this is not the case, we will include colour on the insert pages. This will mean that the whole of the insert and the CD covers work well together.

They thought the covers worked well with the genre and the other products. They thought that the fonts were innovative and fit well with the indie-pop genre due to their simplistic nature. They thought that they would work well with the other products as the black and whit theme runs across them mixed with the colour that makes sure the black and white element is not overwhelming.

They commented on how the images were strong and well framed. They thought that the location of the front cover helped to link to the music video. They were concerned that the back photograph’s location was not used at all. We considered changing the photo but in the end we decided to keep it. To ensure that it works with the other products, it was used on the website.

Final CD Covers

Front cover Back cover

CD Insert Opinions

CD Insert Opinions

Our Response The insert pages and back cover were met with positive opinions. The

audience believed that the it worked well with the other products, drawing a link between the three.

They agreed that the use of the font of the CD cover was particularly effective. It fits with the genre well as it is simplistic yet eye-catching and bold.

Some expressed their concern of how the back cover image was not featured in the main music video. However, it was used in the website so it didn’t stand out as being too different. They also expressed their worries over the colouring of the back being too different from the black and white theme. Since it also features as the back cover, it still works. We decided to keep it and ensure that some other colour was used in the insert.

The font on the back of the insert was also an issue for some of the audience as they disliked it. We decided to keep it as it fits well with the genre, it is used on the back CD cover and because the overall opinion of it was positive.

One member of our audience complained that using the same picture for the back of the insert and the back CD cover was ‘too repetitive’. We decided not to react to this piece of feedback as the rest of our audience agreed that it looked effective. We also believe that it makes the whole insert more colourful and lively as well as fitting with the indie-pop genre.

Final Insert PagesCD insert page 2

CD insert page 3

CD insert back cover

Website Opinions

Website Opinions

Our Response Some of our audience argued that the style of our website was

too simplistic, especially that it lacked colour due to it mostly being black and white. Others said that the simplistic style worked well with the genre and the black and white featured in the other products. We decided to keep the style simplistic as we agreed with the majority of the audience that it worked well with the genre and the other products.

They commented on how easy the site was to navigate and all the information the needed to know was on it. They said that using the CD covers and insert pictures was a good idea as it drew the products together well. They also liked how we used the same header photo across all of the website pages as it made the website have its own style. Although some expressed they would rather this photo to be one already used in the other products, we decided to use a different one to give the website its own individual twist whilst still linking to the other products.

If we were to improve the website further, we would add the music video that we made to it instead of using one of the bands official videos.

Final Website

ConclusionTo conclude, in order to make successful products we had to take audience

opinions and feedback into consideration. Much of the time we decided it to be best to respond to their advice to improve our work. We only did not respond to the feedback if we decided that our products work better as they are or when the majority of the audience believed that it already worked well and changing it would detract from its effectiveness.

When we did respond to feedback, we presented it to the audience again. They revealed that the changes made the products better and so it was proven to be important to listen and respond to the audience feedback.

When the audience did reveal their opinions, it was important to consider their habits. Some of the audience may only watch the music video and so this had to be the main product. Audience members mentioned that they wouldn’t necessarily use the website or buy the CD. They often said they would use iTunes rather than buy a CD. This is due to digital convergence and changing audience habits. We took this into consideration when responding to feedback and so we focused on the opinions of those who would use the product more than those that would not. We also tried to make our products more appealing to those that would not necessarily use them in order to make them consider using them.