Media Studies (A Level)

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Feedback from our target audience:
Introduction:
As part of our evaluation we showed our final music video to our audience,
which consists of people, aged 16-30.
By having a variety of ages our target audience gave us a range of feedback and it
was interesting to see the differences of opinions between our target audiences
as they vary in age.

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[Feedback from target audience aged between 16-30]:
Camera shots:
From our target audience we received a great response in particular they noticed
that we used a range of shots, for example high angle to low angles shots.
However, they mentioned that there were not a variety of shots they felt the
shots were used was very similar and only varied from high angle, low angle and
mid shots.
From this feedback as a group we felt that Electronic Dance Music videos do not
really have a range of shots, and it is very limiting therefore to enhance the genre
of music we gathered that we would follow this convention. Also another reason
why we followed this convention was down to our prior research about this
genre for example Avicii’s-The Nights, music video did not have many camera
shots used in the music video the main shots were mid shots, long shots and
close ups.
Image Stabilisation:
Also from the feedback we received the audience had noticed that the footage
was shaky at one particular point; which was the scene where the camera was
zooming up on the Apple Mac screen. A member of the audience even suggested
we use Image Stabilizer on IMovie to make it sharper and give it that
professional look that we aim for.
Furthermore we tried to use this tool on our video however it did not work,
because the footage then became too sharp and looked unnatural. Therefore as a
group we decided not to use this tool and leave the footage how it is. This is a
risk were willing to take as a group, as we think that it would be better to leave
the footage how it is. As it does not look visually appealing to have the footage so
crisp because EDM music videos consist of footage, which is raw, and this
enhances how EDM is different from the other mainstream genres. And as a
group we would want to follow this convention, of not having the sharp look that
other genres follow, an example of this would be Pop.
Narrative:
Also another aspect of the video the audience suggest we improve on was that
there was a bit too much narrative. However, they also suggested even though
we have narrative there was a mix between narrative and performance.
Altogether we understood that the audience felt that there was too much
narrative however, if we did not include the narrative the audience would not
fully understand the concept of our storyline. Also we did cut out allot of
narrative that we originally decided to have; nevertheless our video has more
narrative then the typical EDM music videos. Our music video does have
narrative though we wanted it not be conventional to the EDM genre, as they
tend to have less narrative base and more performance based videos. As a group
we wanted the lyrics to really connect with the storyline and to be portrayed
thoroughly in the music video. As a result we have done this in our storyline we
have enhanced the lyrics for example in the second chorus it goes ‘ Where are

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you now that I need tha..,’ we decided to have our main character to be lost
without her best friend therefore we positioned her under the spotlight to
portray to the audience that everything around her is carrying as normal
however her pain of lose is remaining. This was influenced by Calvin Harris’s
music video-How deep is your love, as Calvin Harris a well-known EDM artist
used this technique. In his music video where his character is in a nightclub but
the main focus is on her and her expressions, and the spotlight was positioned
directly targeted on her face to show her expressions and to tell the story.
Editing:
The journey of editing has been time consuming as there was a lot of footage to
edit and once we did that we showed our video to our target audience, our music
video which at this point was edited in sync. Therefore when our target audience
viewed our music video they found that it was perfectly in sync. However they
felt that our music video was too serious for an EDM music video and did not
have that quirky, unique feeling which EDM music videos have. Therefore as a
group we brainstormed ideas to make our music video less serious as well as
portraying the narrative that we wanted. As this was at the final stages of our
music video this editing feature was not included in our pre-production work or
our storyboard. Consequently we watched Justin Beiber’s -Where are you now
music video, for inspiration and viewing the edited animations that he had. We
gathered that if we had this in our music video. That it would make our music
video less serious and more fun as EDM music videos have that feel good factor.
And taking this risk on our music video did pay off as our target audience loved
this edited feature they found it visually appealing and they could see that we
planned and linked the animations to our narrative, for example we edited stars,
angel wings etc. Also our target audience really liked the flashing lights that
connected with the animations they thought having both features in these scenes
looked proficient. And our audience also noticed the intertextuality between our
music video and the original Justin Bieber’s- Where are U Now music video. As
we did use the same technique of the animated features, our audience found that
by us using this technique, this made our video more appealing as we referenced
the original music video whilst still keeping our concept.
Our target audience liked the overall editing of the music video they noticed that
the lip syncing parts were all in sync. And for any music video from any genre
this editing feature is compulsory as it brings the music video together and gives
it that professional look that we as a group wanted our music video to be of this
quality. In particular one member of our target audience liked the scene in which
our main character is wearing blue lipstick; she found that this scene had been
perfectly edited as the lip sync was in time and brought the whole scene
together.
Quality:
From the very beginning of shooting our music video, it was clear that the
camera quality was not the finest. Even as a group when we would shoot raw
footage we would view it back and see that the quality of the footage was not up
to the high quality that we aimed for. This was a problem we tried to overcome
by trying other cameras however, the other camera was worse than the camera

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we used. As a result our target audience observed straight-away that our music
video was not the best quality. We did receive negative feedback on the same
issue of the quality of camera however, as a group we could not change the
quality of the music video. As we tried our best to get a better camera and our
school does not fond our individual media groups therefore we had to keep this
quality of footage. However as group we did not stop there as we edited the
footage individually as we edited things such as; the Brightness/Hue Saturation
to make the footage look more high quality. When we then showed our music
video for the final time to our target audience they could see a huge
improvement of the quality of our music video, even though it was not up to the
standards of quality we aimed for.
Costumes/Mise en Scene:
Another part of our music video which our target audience commented on was
the use of costumes. They had noticed that we used a variety of costumes
throughout our music video, and they mentioned that by us doing this made our
video look less amateur. We planned to do this as a group as most music videos
from any genre do this a lot, mainly in a narrative based video as the use of
different costumes show time and change of scenery which directly links to the
narrative of our music video.
In conclusion, our target audience have been really helpful in the making of our
final product from feedback from the focus group to our final music video.
Without the audience feedback we would have never produced a music video up
to this quality. For example without their feedback we would have not known
what to improve on, and what features to edit on. Also the audience gave us
positive feedback on what they liked, which we would of certainty kept in our
video.
From this process of target audience feedback has taught me as a media student,
that there is more to include onto a music video there is always room for
improvement. Therefore it is essential to hold and listen to audience feedback as
your final product is for them.
By Fahmida Yasmin