Answer to the Q3 in Evaluation

1. Critical evaluation Q3
How do your products engage with the audience and how would they
be distributed as real media products? What have you learned from
your audience feedback?

2. Key learnings
Early steps
Since the beginning of the project, I wanted to talk to
typical representatives of my planned audiences (Boomers
+ Millennials) to gather comments and suggestions that
would inform the final stages of the project.
I had discussed the storyboards with my Dad, as he is in the
Roy band. I had also discussed them with my media
teacher. Both of them imagined the video as being very
colourful and very fast in editing, as well as funny, following
the tempo of the song and Roy’s song. They also agreed
with my approach of mixing punk, retro and some Monty
Python approaches into a dynamic and cheerful collage.
We all thought that this should not be a cynical satire,
more of a good-natured fun, but with a social commentary
as the basis for it.

3. Key learnings
Test video
This is exactly what I have done. Obviously, the more
colourful and sillier, the merrier.
I had then shown the shorter rough cut of the video to a
few friends and friends of my parents’. The key takeouts
here were to keep the synchronisation of the music and
images tight, to the point of landing cuts and transitions on
the actual musical accents and word syllables, at all
tempos, whether the faster one in the main parts of the
song, or the jazzy slower one in the middle.
Also, they have confirmed the colourful approach, as well
as the fast editing. One interesting feedback, by a Boomer,
was to increase the number of retro elements to sharpen
the satire (or maybe because they just loved it). Another
useful feedback was to stimulate the band members to be
really silly in their videos, to be in their full Roy characters.

4. Key learnings
Final video
The final video has also had some useful feedback. My key
learning here is that I should not be holding off next time
and should really relax and use the video to really give
meaning to the music, to bring it to life, not just to
illustrate it. Also, to adjust my editing techniques to the
overall tone of the music, especially in slower tempos; in
this case, layered overlap transitions instead of just slow
cuts, ‘dissolves’ or similar.
One surprise for me was that the Boomers really reacted
well to the retro elements (surprise, surprise!) and that I
thought that I have done too much of it, but it seems they
liked it. It remains to be seen how the younger audiences
will relate to it.
My biggest learning here is the importance of planning:
having a very clear idea of the approach from the
beginning and doing all of the key project phases as they
really focused my thinking and helped with planning
resources and calendar.

5. Key learnings
Distribution
& promotion
I truly believe that the main ways of creating an interest for
the video would be postings on popular social media
channels. It is the simplest, cheapest and fastest way to get
it out there. I have no media industry connections and
don’t think that anything else is realistic. I would ask my
friends to repost it and to comment on it (positively, of
course!). I would also send it to various music influencers
asking them to post it too, if they like it. Some of my friends
know some local influencers and that would be the start. If
I am lucky, maybe a mainstream news or magazine portal
may pick it up too, but I am not holding my breath for that.