Media blog Evaluation 3

2. THE BIG PICTURE
During our A2 Media Studies course, we started planning our music video by basing the ideas we wanted from
our target audience. When it came down to brainstorming our initial ideas we took on board what our target
audience had said. As the planning took place, we wanted to have our music video in the location of London.
Due to our target audience ranging from 17-24 years old we made sure that the areas we chose would appeal
to them but we also didn’t want to focus on the stereotypical places which therefore applies to the more
alternative genre so we came to the decision of avoiding places such as Oxford Street and Big Ben. Therefore,
we came to the conclusion of using places such as Kew Gardens, China Town/Soho and also museums (The
Tate Modern and The Saatchi Gallery).
Another way in which our audience feedback influenced our work is with the use of using a questionnaire to
express the use of specific conventions that we wanted/ didn’t want to use in our work. When we asked our
target audience ‘Whether they listened to popular artists rather than individual ones’ we got a variety of
responses which allowed us to apply both what we wanted and also what the audience desired. Due to most of
the audience stating that they listened to popular artists more than individual, we came to the conclusion of
applying some conventions that would be seen in popular artists music videos. So by having items of clothing
that have popular brands on them such as Adidas and having locations that appeal to the audience that have
elements of uniqueness meant that our work would appeal to the alternative genre. Another question that we
asked our audience is asking them if they ‘Would prefer seeing choreographed dances in music videos or
not?’. The feedback we got back from this question influenced our choice in whether or not to use dances in
our music video. We came to the conclusion to go against their opinions because the pace of the song
wouldn’t match dances and also we related dances to the pop genre and their music videos which is
something that we chose to subvert.
During the editing stages we had constant feedback from our audience for example the shot where Sophia is
standing by the projector we weren’t sure of what shot to use. Due to there being a variety of coloured
backgrounds such as blue, pink and purple we wanted to make sure that there was a consistency and synergy
between other shots that feature in the music video and also the one shot that we were debating about. This
shows that even before the filming process, the target audience had a significant impact on our decision
making.

3. PLANNING
When it came down to researching what we wanted to do for our music video we made sure to look at our
target audience and their typical interests. With the mood boards we created, it allowed us to conform to
certain aspects of teenagers and young adult lives which made our music video more interesting and less
boring. Regarding the target audience, we found out that the most popular genre of music was R&B at 33%
so we tried to apply conventions of the genre into our music video by having big brands in our costumes
and certain considerable ‘dance moves’ that were also featured in some scenes.
We also found out that our target audience listened to popular artists over individual ones. This hindered
our choice of song because it meant that people wouldn’t be familiar with our chosen artist SZA. We decided
to stick with the idea of using SZA despite the feedback being something different, we thought that by
having an artist that not many people had heard of, it would mean that people wouldn’t automatically link
her music video and style to the ones we create. This factor meant that we needed to conform to other
stereotypes to make sure we gain the audiences attention straight away.
With the location research, we wanted to go to places that had elements of uniqueness as they are most
likely some of the lesser known places for our target range to visit. We chose to do this research beforehand
because we felt like this was a very important decision to make because we knew that we wanted to show a
variety of locations throughout the music video.
We chose to complete a mood board that allowed us to gain an understanding of the style and likes that our
target audience would like. We found out that most of our age range (17-24 years old) enjoyed different
forms of social media such as; Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This liking was applied to our
tour poster which allowed our audience to find more information out about our artist.
When using our storyboard it helped influence the initial ideas and the final product because we wanted to
incorporate slow shots. This is something that we stuck by right from the start because we didn’t want the
video to not match the music that was in the background which would of made it dysfunctional and make
the audience question what was going on.
Before uploading our official music video we decided to upload a rough cut version to the social media
platform Twitter. By having a rough cut version uploaded, it meant that we could gain a range of feedback
that therefore allowed us to apply it to our music video and meet the demands of our target audience.
Comments such as ‘Have a different pace of shots’ allowed us to shorten some shots which make the music
video look more professional and it allows us to show a range of pace.

4. FILMING AND EDITING
When it came down to the filming process, we wanted to make sure that it appealed to the target
audience as much as possible. As we filmed, we made sure that we had a variety of shots that contained
Sophia lip syncing in. This therefore lead to us having shots that were not the same next to each other as
it added a differentiation to the video and it wouldn’t become boring for the audience.
We also looked at the editing and were highly influenced by people our age and older to help us change
certain shots to help us make sure that the lip syncing matched the song. People of the same age (17 and
18) helped us attract our audience because they gave us a second pair of eyes due to them not seeing the
music video as much as us. This meant that their ideas were unbiased and fresh which lead to us
concluding effective ideas.
Another way in which we made sure that the filming targeted our audience is by including a variety of
shots. Rather than having still shots all the time, we wanted to include panning and also ones that were
zooming out as well. If we were to have shots that were just of Sophia standing there with the camera
still throughout the whole music video, it would make the audience bored very quickly. This therefore
lead to us including a variety of shots and also incorporate areas of Sophia’s body (not just her face) such
as her legs and feet which meant that the target audience wouldn’t get bored of seeing her face all the
time. This is another reason as to why we also chose to have a large amount of fillers that contained
interesting scenes of locations that had already been featured in the music video to help show continuity
which conforms to other music videos.
Within the editing, we made sure that we had a variety regarding the lengths of some shots. This links to
us changing some ideas that we had made in our initial plans and designs. Due to the song having a slow
pace we thought that the best idea would be to have slower shots which helped the synergy between the
video and song. However, we decided to go against this idea especially after uploading the rough cut, we
faced ideas that gave us the option to include faster shots. We felt influenced by this idea because it
meant that we could gain the audiences attention as they will most likely become uninterested of the
same slow shots. We also found that these shots linked well to the end section of the song due to it
having elements of fast tunes.

5. FEEDBACK
When it came down to gaining feedback from our target audience we decided to upload the video onto various social
media platforms. On YouTube we gained high recognition from a variety of people in the comments section and it
was also seen in the like and dislike section. As you can see from the inserted screenshots from the website
YouTube we have gained high recognition from roughly 523 people. YouTube was an effective idea in presenting our
music video to our target audience due to them accessing it quite a lot in their daily life. We have also gained 28
likes even after having it uploaded for just over a week. This tells us that it has been successful enough for this
large amount of people to like it, despite having one dislike we knew that we would face some criticism.
Not only did I upload the music video on YouTube by also on the social media platforms Facebook and Twitter. By
using more than one social media platform to help promote our music video it would allow more people to view and
share our music video. As you can see in some of the screenshots below, many people acknowledged our music
video. On Facebook we received 31 likes and two comments from people saying that it was ‘‘So good’’.
On Twitter, we also received 2 retweets as well
as 7 likes, this helps
us understand that people like our music
video which helps make it very successful.
The next thing that we did in order to have a wider range of feedback is create a survey on Survey Monkey. I
decided to create this survey because it allowed us to understand the specific feedback that people had
thought/said and it is also interesting to understand other peoples, especially our target audiences opinions about
the music video. When we uploaded the video onto YouTube we gained comments from three different people
claiming that they enjoyed the music video.

6. FEEDBACK
When it came down to creating the survey on Survey Monkey we wanted to have a variety of questions that
related to the music video which contained open questions which allowed them to explain why they
enjoyed certain shots.