Question 3

Question: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I used a number of ways to receive feedback from other people, and I aimed to receive feedback strictly from those in the target demographic, that being aged 15-25 and mainly female, though including males too.

The first method for this was simply asking them to view the music video and print productions, and asking them what they thought of it and what, if anything, could improve the appeal. This was a subjective way of gaining feedback.

When I showed her panels 2, 3 and 4 of my digipak, Grace Papworth (18 year old female) said: "The panoramic theme is interesting and looks cool! Try adding the light streak from the front cover onto the panoramic to keep the theme of light going all the way through the digipak."

I therefore tried, as Grace said, adding the light streak from panel 1 into the panorama. This, however, didn’t work very well as there was little space to do it; the light streak didn’t work well against the bright sky. It also made the image too busy, so I kept the panels simple.

When I showed my classmates my album cover, the class said the enjoyed both the light streak effect and the image itself. They agreed that the close up image is evocative and affective, and the light streak adds interest without drawing attention away from the artist's face. All of the members of the class are within the age range of the target demographic, which was important for the validity of the feedback.

I also showed the album cover to Kirstie (17 year old female) suggested trying the image with the same theme/colour scheme as the inner panels and back panel so that the theme runs all the way through the panels. I tried this, and found that the front cover fitted in well with the other panels when using the same vintage style. It didn’t take away any of the strength of the image and it was still as striking as before.  I therefore decided to use this effect.

The second, more objective method I used to gain feedback was the use of questionnaires.

Again I asked males and females of the target demographic to complete these questionnaires.

Below are the questions from the questionnaire on my music video:

Question 1:

How much did you enjoy the music video?

This question gave an immediate insight into whether the audience actually enjoyed watching the video. It is particularly important as I was promoting an unsigned artist, therefore the video would need to be enjoyable in order to spread by word of mouth and attract as wide an audience as possible.

I offered a rating system of 1 to 5, 1 being bad and 5 being excellent. From the questionnaires I can see that everybody rated my video 3 or 4, with one exception of a 5. This means that the majority of my target audience would enjoy my music video. There was not a huge difference between males and females in this question, though I can suggest females tended to enjoy it more than males, as the only rating of 3 was from a male and the only rating of 5 was from a female.

Question 2:

Was it easy to understand the narrative?

This was an important question for me, as I was worried that by using a non-linear narrative; one that is ambiguous and mysterious and flicked between reality and dream, viewers may have found it difficult to understand rather than thought provoking like I’d intended.

I found a slight difference in male and female responses, as I’d expected. The females seemed to understand and keep up with the narrative more than the males did. This could be explained by the stereotypical and evolutional explanation that females are more sympathetic and relate more to others, and males are more objective and linear in thought. My music video was designed to provoke sympathy for the artist. However, the difference between males and females in this aspect was fairly small, and the target demographic was mostly female anyway.

Question 3:

Did it hold your attention?

This relates to question 1 and how much each person enjoyed the video. If the video couldn’t hold the attention, the viewer may not like it as much.

Again, there was a slight difference in males and females, as the video seemed to hold the attention of the females slightly more. This is the same as what I found in question 2.

Question 4:

How do you rate the camera work and editing?

This question scored very highly with every participant scoring the video 4 or 5. In the section of the questionnaire for the participants’ favourite aspects of the video, a lot of the participants said the edit was their favourite aspect. One wrote “the editing, and the way it works with the music”, commenting on the cutting with the beats of the track. Goodwin’s theory says “There is a relationship between music and visuals”. This comment shows that I successfully addressed this theory and it was effective.

Another wrote that their favourite was “the sound bridge between the dip to black and the train”. This too shows that I successfully edited my music video so that it was effective and creative.

Question 5:

How would you rate the standard of mise-en-scene?

This question also proved to be one of the strong points of my music video. All of the participants rated this 4 or 5, with no real difference between males and females again. This suggests that the large amount of locations that I used in my video were effective and pleasing to the audience.

Question 6:

Was the music video too short, correct length, too long or don’t know?

This question was of particular interest to me, as the track was fairly long and I had to cut off the end. I was worried that, in relation to question 3, the length of the video would lose the attention of some of the audience. I found similar results to those of question 3, in the way that all the females said the video was the correct length, but 3 of the males suggested the video was too long. This could explain why the results of question 3 indicated that the video lost the attention of some males.

However, I’d already cut off a considerable amount of the track, and so I felt cutting any more of the track could be detrimental to the meaning and effectiveness of the track.

Question 7:

Would you listen to it again?

This question was of importance as the artist is unsigned, and so to create a developing fan base, the video would have to provoke the viewer to watch it again.

The majority of participants said they would watch the video again, but some also said they were undecided.

Question 8:

Is there any part of the production that you found offensive?

All of the participants said no to this question, which is good as I want the video to appeal to as many people as possible in order to create a fan base for the unsigned artist.

Question 9:

Were there any parts that you found confusing or hard to understand?

This question relates to question 2, and I found the same answers. The majority of the participants said no to this question, and commented on how well the narrative came together at the end. The majority of these people were female. The only negative comments here were males, who suggested the “narrative was hazy”.

Question 10:

What was your favourite part of the production?

The results of this question I’ve answered in questions 4 and 5. The favourite aspects were editing work, camera work and use of locations.

Question 11:

Does the video reflect the style of music?

This question was important as the brief of the task was to create a music video that relates to and successfully markets the genre of the track. The results of the participants, all of whom answered “yes”, suggested that I’d successfully done this.

Question 12:

Rate the music video:

The average score was, out of 12 participants, 8.2/10. This was an important question. It links with question 1 on how much they enjoyed the video. The high score I achieved suggested that the audience enjoys the video, and therefore the music video would appeal to a large audience.

Here are some of the questionnaires:

Below are the questions from the questionnaire for my print productions:

Question 1:

Does the digipak successfully reflect the genre of the music?

This is an important question as the aim of the print productions was to reflect the genre of the music, so that the audience would be attracted to the digipak if they saw it in a shop. The participants rated this at 4 out of 5. This means that my digipak successfully followed the conventions of the genre.

Question 2:

Does the magazine advert successfully reflect the genre of the music?

Again, this was a question of importance as the aim of the magazine advert was to attract the target audience to buy the product, and so the magazine advert reflecting the genre well would improve this. Again, the participants rated this at 4 out of 5. This means that my magazine advert successfully followed the conventions of the genre in order to attract those who like the genre.

Question 3:

How do you rate the standard of graphics in the package?

This question encourages the target audience to give an opinion on how effective the package is in terms of professional graphical appeal. Whether the participants have any understanding of technology or not, they can offer their opinions on the professionalism of the print productions. This, after all, would entice a consumer to purchase the product more than a product that doesn’t appear professionally made.

In this question, my print productions scored 5/5 by all participants.

Question 4:

How do you rate the standards of graphics and print (album)?

This is the same as question 3, only asking for the opinions on the graphics of the printed work. In this question again, my print productions scored 5/5 by all participants.

Question 5:

How successfully is the Britishness of the package established?

This question reflects how effectively the routes of the artist is established in the print productions. This can be important to a consumer when purchasing work by a British artist. My  print production scored 4 out of 5 for this question.

Question 6:

Would the magazine advert encourage you to buy the album?

This is a very important, straight to the point question. The aim of any advert is to entice the viewer into purchasing that which is being marketed. This question reflects the strength of the marketing of my magazine advert.

The participants suggested they would consider buying the product after viewing the advert.

Question 7:

Identify the strongest feature of the productions:

This question asks the participants to think about which aspect of the productions they were most attracted to. It is important as this will help me understand what is the main selling point of the productions. One point made is the consistency of style across the productions. This relates to the continuous colour scheme in the panels of the digipak and the style of the magazine. Another point made was the composition of the images.

Question 8:

Rate the package overall:

The average score for my productions overall was 4.5/5.

Below are examples of the questionnaires