1. Evaluation3
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Throughoutthisproject,audience feedbackhasbeenessential tothe developmentof ourvideoand
ancillarytasks,especiallyduringthe researchandplanningstagesandthe feedbackonce finally
completed.The feedbackhelpedustodevelopourproductsfurtherandadapt themsothat they
wouldfitwithtargetaudience needsfrombotha trainedmediaeye andpublicview.
Some of the firstfeedbackthatwe receivedwas fromourtarget audience
interviews.We askedthemaseriesof questionstogive usa more clear
understandingaboutwhatourtargetaudience like tosee inthe musicvideos
for the acousticpop genre.Some of the main commentsandfeedbackthat
influencedourplanningof the videowasthatthe mainreasonwhyour target
audience watchedthe videosandlistenedtothe genre wasitsrealisticand
personal nature.Therefore,we feltlike itwasthenessentialforusto have a
well thoughtoutnarrative withperfectmise-en-scene thatheavilysupportsthe narrative makingit
believableandrealistic.Anotherkeypiece of feedbackthatwe receivedwasthatour target
audience doesnotlike toavideothathas no connectiontothe song or ismade solelyof
performance.We tookonthisfeedback,ensuringthatwe amplifiedthe themesandmeanings
behindthe songsosome of the lyricshada directlike tothe action,while othersdevelopedthe
lyricsfurther.From this, we alsochose to make our videoamixture of performance andnarrative,
we feltlike thisbothmetthe needsandwantsof the target audience andwouldfollow some of the
maingenericconventionsof the genre.Ifeel likethese targetaudience interviewsandfeedback
reallybenefitedourplanningof ourvideo,itprovideduswith aclear ideaof whatour target
audience like andwantto see inthe acousticpop genre.Thisallowedustocombine ourknowledge
fromthe generictheoryof the genre andaudience interpretation.
Secondly,we received alarge amountof formative feedbackthroughoutthe developmentand
makingof both our musicvideoandancillarytasks.We originallypitchedourvideoideastothe
class,for theirinitial ideasandsuggestionsaboutthe videobefore we startedthe constructionof
the video. Thiswasveryuseful asI originallyhadtwoideas,one wasHappier,the ideathatwe chose
and another,IWill Wait(Mumfordand sons).Thisone wasabout a girl whothroughoutherlife
alwayshadher motherthere tosupporther.However,fromthe feedbacktheymade itclearhow
hard itwouldbe to filmthis video, asitwouldneedalarge cast that all lookedverysimilar.This
wouldhave beenverydifficulttoachieve,meaningthatwe chose tocrate my videoideafor
Happier. Sooverall,thisearlystage of feedbackheavilybenefitedbothme andmy groupin choosing
the bestand mostachievable narrative.
We wentonto create a pitchaboutour final idea;we presentedthis
to the class.Here we receivedboth positiveandnegative feedback.
Theyreallylikedthatwe hada well-establishedmise-en-scene which
wouldhelptoamplifythe meaningsof the song.Therefore,we took
thisfeedbackanddevelopedthisevenfurther,throughourmise-en-
scene post,to ensure thatitwas perfectwhenoutfilming.
Furthermore,some of the mainelementsthatwe neededtoimprove
were addinganintroductiontosetthe scene of the videoandprovide some background
information.Fromthiswe createdthe ideatohave the disappearingpicturesatthe beginning.We
thoughtthat thiswouldbe a creative andinterestingwaytointroduce the videoandnarrative.It
providessome insightintowhatthe relationshipwasaboutwithoutspeechorshowing lotsof
differentscenes.Iwas happy withthisdecisionandwithoutthisstage of feedback we wouldnot
have beeninfluencedtoaddin an introduction,whichcouldhave made ournarrative confusing.
2. Evaluation3
We thenwentonto make our videos;throughoutthis stage, we
receivedongoingfeedbackabouthow we couldimprove ourvideoeven
more. Duringthe earlystagesof oureditingwe showedourvideotothe
whole class,here theygave theirinitial commentsonthe video,thiswas
mainlypositivesuchastheylovedouruse of differentlocationsand
costumes.Theyalsoreallylikedourcreative editing,suchasouruse of
change in opacitytomerge two shotsovereachother sothat the artist
was inthe shot twice.However,we alsoreceivedsome constructive
feedbackthatwe couldimprove on,suchas havingan enigmaticending,whichwouldleave the
audience withquestion.We tookthisideaanddevelopeditintoshowingthe girl sadaswell asthe
boy;thiswouldmake the audience wonderastowhobroke up withwho?Or, whyisshe sad if she is
witha newman? I feel likethisfeedbackhelpedtoaddmore depthtoour video,helpingngto
intrigue the audience.Ialsofeel likethe feedbackbenefitedmyoverall editingskillsbecauseit
outlinedsome slighttimingissueswhichIwasable to change and can now sport muchbetter.
Similartoour videowe alsohadmanystagesof feedbackthroughoutthe
constructionof our ancillarytasks. We beganwith pitchingourdigipak
ideastothe class,explainingeachone andgivingreasonsastowhywe
didit. The classvotedfor theiroverall favourite digipak ideas,thishelped
us to gainan understandingof whatourtargetaudience wouldwantto
see as an albumcover,theyalsogave us some constructive feedback
that helpedustodevelopthe improveour
ideas.Forexample,the mainpieceof feedback
that we got wasto combine the bottomblackand white insidecoverand
top outside cover,thiswouldreflectthe genre,expressingthe themes
withinthe genre.We foundthisveryhelpful feedbackaswe were
strugglingtochoose a final draftfor ourdigipak. Some of the other
feedbackthatinfluencedourfinal ideaswastodisplaythe tracklistina
unique was,thisiswhere the ideatohave themina window came from.
Followingonfrompresentingourdigipakwe alsopitchedourideas
for our magazine poster,we hadthe same approachas the digipak,
explainedwhywe made the decisionswe didforeach.We received
a mixture of bothpositive andconstructive feedback,whichhelped
us to developourposterideasandcome toa final decisionof which
one we wantedto do.The classreallylikedposter2because ithad
similarconnectionstothe digipak,whoeverwas
slightlydifferentdue tothe differentmainimage.
We chose to use thisas our mainideawhile makingourposter.Theyalsoreally
likedhowthe artistname wasbiggerthan the albumname,afterlookingat
genericposterswithinthe genre,we discoveredthatthiswasa common
convention;therefore itwasusefultoknow thatour target audience alsofollow
the genericconventions.However,the classalsosaid thatwe didnot needto
include apicture of the albumon the poster, as theywere similaranyway.
However, we chose toignore thiscommentbecause we feltlike itwasanessential
conventionthatwe neededtomeet.We alsodidn’tthinkthatourposterrelated
enoughtothe albumcoverforit to be missedout.
3. Evaluation3
Once our videoandancillarytaskswere finished,we uploadedthemonto
our blogs,YouTube andsharedthemamongstfriends.All of thiswasto
receive awiderrange of audience feedbackonourfinal products. We
beganby sendingourvideotomembersof staff andstudentswithinthe
school to receive initial feedbackonourvideo.Miss Greenwood
commentedonourvideosayingthatshe reallylikedhow we established
the story of the videothroughthe photosat the beginningasitclearly
setthe story.She alsolovedthe fadesinandout andour use of opacity
to create ‘ghost’memories.She thoughtthat thisaddedmore depthto
the video.However,she thoughtthatouruse of the artist singingwas
not a strongas the firsthalf,andtherefore made itseemstrange thatthe
performance wasusedatall because she feltlike the narrative wasstrongenoughasitis.On
reflectionof thisfeedbackIdoagree withthe commentsasit made me more aware that we should
have balancedoutthe performance andnarrative better,sothatit followedmore anddidn’tallow
the audience toforgetaboutthe artist.Had we have receivedthisfeedbackearlierIfeel asif we
wouldhave addressedthiscommentinmore detail.We uploadedthe videoontoYouTube aswe felt
like itwouldbe aneffective waytogainfeedbackfromourtargetaudience especiallythe people my
age.We receivedpositivefeedbackdirectlyontovideoonYouTube.MollyCraig gave ussome
positive feedbackonoutvideosayinghow we have clearlylinkedthe lyricstothe videoandthatit
flowsverynice.The positivefeedbackisverynice andhelpful asitallowsusto know thatwe are
meetingthe needsandwants of ourtarget audience. We alsosentthe videotostudentswithinthe
school to gainfeedbackfromanuntrainedmedia
eye.Here theythoughtthatour videoreflectedthe
genre verywell andthatthe main themesof the
videowhere clearlypresented.One studentfound
the videoespeciallyemotional andbroughttearsto
theireyes.Thiswasveryhelpful toknowaswe knew
we had achievedourintended emotional effecton
our targetaudience.
Overall,Ihave learnedalotfromaudience feedback throughoutthisproject,thisisdue the many
stagesof feedbackthatI have explainedthroughoutthisessay.Ihave learnedthatfeedbackiskey
withinall stagesof productionasitprovidedme withanunderstandingof professional andtarget
audience opinionson ourideasandfinal products.The positive feedbackallowedme toknow thatI
was meetingthe needsandwantsof our targetaudience andthat ourideaswere unique and
appealed toaudiences.Furthermore,the constructive andnegativefeedbackwasthe mosthelpful
to me throughoutall stagesbutespeciallythe research andplanning.Thiswasbecause ithelpedus
constantlyimprove ourideasanddesignssothattheyfittedthe targetaudience wants.Inaddition,
theyalsogave us othermediabasedopinionsfromshowingthemtothe classwhichwasveryuseful
as sometimesfollowingthe conventions of the genre isn’talwaysright,openingmyeyestobreaking
conventionstomake aunique andinterestingvideoandancillarytasks.
