Evaluation: Question 3

What have you learned from your audience
feedback?

For the third question of my evaluation, I will analyse in detail every piece of
feedback I collected from my target audience during the process of planning
and producing my music video as well as explaining how this feedback affected
my artistic choices. I will split this feedback into two categories: quantitative
data and qualitative data. Quantitative applies to any collected data that is
measured on a numerical scale. It can be analysed by using statistical methods
and the results can be interpreted using charts. On the other hand, qualitative
is opinionated data that approximates or characterizes but does not measure
the attributes, characteristics and properties of a thing or phenomenon.
Qualitative data is usually extracted from an open question, wherein the
participant is asked to state their opinion.
I will discuss the feedback I received in chronological order, starting with the
questionnaire I distributed in October up to the recent feedback I’ve received
on my finished music video.

 Back in October, I wanted to get an idea of which audience in particular I want to target
for the focus of my music video, so I designed a questionnaire for 15 people to answer.
These answers aimed to determine the not only my target audience (gender and age
group), but also other aspects of the music video, including the style, narrative, the
content of it and how it will be promoted once complete. I handed it out to people who
weren't Media studies students, as I feel Media students emboss some bias towards
music videos as they have been studying it, whereas the people who don't only watch
music videos for enjoyment. Once I got these answers, I interpreted this quantitative
data into some pie charts in order to see the results.

While I was waiting for the results of the blog poll and
questionnaire that determined my target audience, I
decided to make my own prediction on the
gender, age, ethnicity and social class of my pending
target audience. In order to make the prediction more
credible and to back it up extensively, I referred to
Tessa Perkins' theory of stereotypes by discussing the
common stereotypes of country music fans. I also
mentioned that if my prediction was correct, the
reliability of stereotypes will have been proved. I
expressed my ideas in a Prezi format as it made it
much more presentable. After much discussion, I
came to a conclusion that my target audience will be
female, aged 15 to 20, middle class and
Caucasian/White. Ironically, these predictions actually
ended up being correct, as seen in the final results.

This area of my questionnaire
aimed to determine which gender I
should use for my target audience.
The results showed that more
females than males filled in my
questionnaire but at the same
time, it shows that females are
much more interested in music
videos than males. This chart also
helped me determine which genre I
should focus on for my music video
as I was able to see which genders
like which genre of music. By looking into my other results, I saw that the females
preferred much more mainstream music than males, which includes pop, R&B and
country. Whereas males prefer niche music such as alternative and indie. I took
these thoughts into account while tailoring the results to my own music
interests, which is country. After noticing that the prime target audience for
country is female, I made that part of mine.

While I had already determined
what genre my music video was
going to country due to my
personal music interests. I still
deemed it appropriate to find
out what genres of music are
popular, because the more
popular it is, the more
recognition the music video will
get. Indie was found to be the
most popular genre which is no
surprise due to the old and
alternative music taste that is taking the world by storm due to the postmodern and
nostalgic movement. Country was found to be the second most popular which
determines that this genre is perfect to make a music video for as it is placed right in
the middle of mainstream and niche music. Pop was in third place due to its
mainstream impact in pop culture, especially since the music charts are dominated by
this genre. Rock and R&B were popular too due to their impact in the mainstream
music charts. Finally, classical was the least popular with no one choosing it in the
questionnaire. It is ironic that classical music is still not popular despite the nostalgic
postmodern movement that is present in the 21st century.

aimed to determine which area of
my music video I should focus on in
order to receive the best result.
While all of these elements are
important in a music video, there
always has to be one that stands
out in order to give the music video
a special quality that makes it look
very professional. From these
results, I found out that mise-en-
scene
is considered the most important in a music video. I agree with this answer as I
feel it‟s the mise en scene that gives the music video its tone and atmosphere. For
example, filming a music video in a wood rather than a house will add a mystic
quality and message that will make the audience think and keep them interested.
This also applies to lighting and costume as well as location so I made this my
priority when planning and producing my music video.

There are four types of narratives
or forms a music video can take;
performance, narrative, abstract
and animated. When creating this
music video, this was one of the
most important elements I had to
take into account, especially as
music videos revolve around these
narratives. Abstract was found to
be the most popular choice in my
questionnaire, which I agree with
thoroughly as abstract music
videos really get the audience thinking as the meaning is ambiguous. But on the
other hand, performance and narrative-style music videos are easier to watch for
the audience as they wonder what is going to happen next. Before I made my
choice, I studied some music videos of my chosen genre, country. I noticed that
country music videos tend to use all three of these narratives in order to entertain
the audience while still getting them thinking, there is also a strong performance
element that takes place too. With this in mind, I decided I would use a
combination of all three narratives.

aimed to find out how people
watch music videos so I can
upload my finished video into a
place that will attract some buzz.
The most popular answer of
course was the website YouTube
which wasn’t a surprise. Since
YouTube was founded in 2005
and has become an important
part of social working and
communication today.
also, it is found that the most viewed YouTube videos are nearly always music
videos. This demonstrates that YouTube is the prime place to watch music videos.
For example, the K-pop artist, PSY, released a music video for his song „Gangnam
style‟ and it is the most viewed on the site, with over a billion views. From this
information I plan to upload my music video to YouTube to make it conventional.

As the questionnaire I’d previously conducted had only been for non-media students. I
decided to do another form of research catered towards media students. Because
despite the bias, they do have some valid opinions and views. I did these research in the
form of a poll on my blog, using similar questions as my questionnaire. I found
participants through email, as I emailed all the media students with a link to my blog.
Over 30 people did it, which was a good number for my study to be successful. I
incorporated all of the results into my pie charts along with the quantitative data
received from my questionnaire.

“The primary gender of my target audience is female, as my results showed that 86% of the people who
answered the questions were female, while only 14% were male. This is typical of a country music
audience in real life which makes my results very true to life and valid. The age of my target audience
will be between 16 and 19 as my results show that 95% of the people who answered the questions
were aged between 16 and 19. This is also typical of a country music audience as they are usually teens
to young adults. My results also found that Indie and Country were the most popular genres with this
gender and age group, while I have already chosen the country genre for my music video, these
validates the fact that country is most popular with female teens. Finally, my results showed that my
audience watch music videos on YouTube (82%), the easy access to music videos also establishes my
audience as in the ABC demographic or ‘middle class.’ Plus, some country songs have mainstream
appeal”
With these results, I have fulfilled all of the predictions I made earlier about my target audience, which
makes my questionnaire/poll successful in establishing my target audience.”
- Declared on my blog in November 2013
This final declaration indicates the success of my research in finding out which target audience I should
cater my music video for. It also demonstrates that the predictions I made were in fact correct.
After interpreting the results I collected from the questionnaires, I came to this conclusion:

Shortly after declaring my target
audience for my music vide. I
created an audience profile using
all of the data gained from my
research. This way all of the data is
compact and all in one place so its
easier to clarify my target audience.
I also added images with the data
to help me visualise my target
audience.
My audience profile is definitely a
good representation of this social
group, or country music fans. It
shows that is has successfully
attracted females and some males
as well as sticking to the target
audience of ages 16 to 24.

After I had completed my music video to a standard
that both my teachers and I were happy with, I
decided to conduct an anonymous questionnaire
that would help me gain honest feedback from my
target audience. I gave the questionnaire and my
ancillary texts to one of my teachers, and got him to
show the video to one of his classes and they filled
in the questionnaire as they watched it. I felt this
method was very effective in receiving non-biased
feedback from my target audience, as I was not in
the room when it took place and I wasn’t familiar
with any of the 16 participants that took part. These
questions were very well rounded as they were
both open and closed, so the participant could state
yes/no as well as their opinions. This way I could
extract both quantitative and qualitative data from
the answers for further analysis.
I counted the answers by
tallying them on a sheet of
paper (right). This made it
easier for me to interpret them
into a pie chart for further
analysis. I also noted down any
extra comments for later use.

Country
Country-Pop
Pop-Indie
From these answers I discovered
that the majority of my
participants knew the music
video was country. This
demonstrates that I succeeded
in creating a mise-en-scene and
atmosphere that was
conventional to the genre. The
one answer that I was surprised
at was that one person thought
the video was Pop-Indie. But
after I looked back at the questionnaires, I discovered that the person who said this was
male. This isn’t surprising as according to my target audience, females are more likely to
know and like country music than boys, and because it isn’t a very mainstream
genre, especially in the UK, he may not have been aware of it.

Yes
No
This is very self-
explanatory as you can
see, but my results
showed that all 16 of
my participants agreed
that my ancillary texts
linked in well with the
music video. This
demonstrates that I
succeeded in creating
perfect continuity
between the three
products by using the
same colour
palette, location, costu
me and overall theme.

Yes
No
I was very pleased to
discover that all but two of
my participants decided that
my music video didn’t need
any changes in order to
improve it. So in other
words, most of them didn’t
think it needed improving at
all. This shows that doing
multiple edits and practices
of my music video paid
off, and with I was able to
notice any mistakes and
improve them before any of
my target audience saw it.

Yes
No
Again, I was pleased to discover
that all but two of my
participants decided that my
ancillary didn’t need any
alterations in order to improve it.
This demonstrates the
effectiveness of doing multiple
drafts of my ancillary texts.
Also, all of these drafts were
completely different, which gave
a lot of variety. This way I was
able to see which design worked
and which one didn’t. I was also
able to notice any mistakes and
improve them before any of my
target audience saw it.

Male
Female
Despite my target
audience being mostly
made up of girls, I
decided to let males
complete this
questionnaire anyhow.
Despite the music video
not appealing to them, I
deemed it important to
receive any honest
feedback from
them, especially for any
appropriate
improvements.

16-17
18-19
20+
The ages of my participants
were also incredibly
important as I wanted to
see what my specific target
audience thought of my
music video. Fortunately all
of the participants were of
the perfect age to fit into
my target audience (16 to
24). So I was able to analyse
all of their feedback
knowing that they were of
an age that my music video
would appeal to them.

1 to 3
4 to 6
7 to 9
10
As a final question on the
back of the questionnaire, I
asked the participants to rate
my three texts out of
ten, based on how good they
thought it was. I was very
pleased when I saw that all of
them had rated it between 7
and 10. This, along with the
previous pie charts and
improvements, show that I
was successful in making my
music video and ancillary
texts appeal to my target
audience, and doing multiple
drafts of them really paid off.

I also took the demographics from the YouTube views of my music video, as I
thought it would be interesting to see the demographics of my anonymous viewing
audience. 70% of this audience discovered my music video on the YouTube watch
page while 30% found it on other websites like my blog. I also found that and 75%
of my audience watched via a mobile app or direct traffic. Although unable to see
the proportion of males and females and the ages of those who watched my video
due to the lack of views, I feel this demonstrates the connection my audience has
with media technologies with how easily my video was available to them, possibly
through social networking websites and sharing etc.

To give my audience research more credibility on top of the questionnaire
and blog poll, back in October I decided to get three people together who
fitted the bill for my pending target audience, and I asked them seven
questions regarding my upcoming music video. This gave me the
opportunity to address my audience personally and hear their opinions.
This was my first type of research that included qualitative data, so any
personal views or opinions. They’re responses heavily affected the
decisions I made regarding my music video so I deem it very important
and useful.
Emily Vicky Nahida
1. What do you think is the most important element of a music video and why?
Nahida: It needs to have a good start and a good finish in order to keep the audience engrossed
Vicky: The mise-en-scene and the costume
Emily: The cinematography and editing has to go with the beat of the song in order to keep the audience interested
2. Do you prefer a narrative video without lip-sync or an abstract video with lip-sync? Why?
Nahida: Narrative because you have to interpret abstracts in your own way
Vicky: It depends on the speed of the song, a slow song will be narrative and a fast song will be abstract
Emily: A narrative video with a storyline that the audience can follow
3. Give an example of how a music video has grabbed your attention and influenced you to buy the album.
Nahida: I think the song is more important than the music video, but The Saturdays’ music videos always interest me
Vicky: Lady Gaga, she always grabs attention through her memorable and unique music videos
Emily: I agree with Nahida about how its more about the song, but as long as it is upbeat and has a storyline it grabs my
attention
Continued on next slide

4. Do you prefer music videos shot inside, outside, or a combination of both?
Nahida: It don’t think it matters as long as it relates to the song
Vicky: It really depends on the genre, for example pop music videos look better inside because they can make use of the
space
Emily: I reckon both because it makes the music video more diverse and interesting
5. How many different settings/filming locations should a video have in your opinion? Why?
Nahida: Any as long as it goes with the song, for example Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball is all in one location is looks good
Vicky: I think 2 or 3 locations are enough for one music video
Emily: I’d say only a few locations are necessary so it doesn’t get confusing
6. Do you prefer a more cinematic and smooth style of cinematography or a more unsteady and documentary feel?
Nahida: I think smooth cinematography looks better but it depends on the song
Vicky: I don’t think it matters as long as it follows the song’s narrative, the movement has to reflect the mood
Emily: I like the smooth/movie style cinematography as it makes it look more professional
7. What conventions would you associate with the country genre of music? Mise-en scene, cinematography, editing etc
Nahida: This might sound stereotypical but locations like fields and woods and cowboy boots
Vicky: I agree with Nahida, anything stereotypical like woods will be conventional
Emily: As well as the stereotypes I think it needs to include locations that the target audience can relate to, like a school for
example
What I’ve learnt from this feedback:
I took a lot of the girls’ responses into account later on when I was planning my video. For example, I took Nahida’s
comment about a good start and finish into account my starting my music video with a candle being lit and ending it with
the candle being blown out. I also decided to combine all three types of narrative,; story, abstract and performance, this
way my video will connect with a wider variety of people. I also decided to use a smooth style of cinematography as the
girls stated it would look more professional. Finally, I made sure to include any stereotypes associated with country as they
stated like the boots and outdoor locations

Before proceeding to the next slide, PLEASE WATCH THE FOUR VIDEOS BELOW
Four of my friends who conveniently finish the criteria of my target audience kindly offered
to be interviewed and give some feedback on my texts.
I sat them down in an empty classroom and they watched my music video with the lights
down so they could see it better. After they watched it, I gave them my ancillary texts to look
at and I asked them various questions regarding their fondness of the texts and if they
needed any improvements. I also asked them questions based on the anonymous
questionnaire I did recently.
Please watch these four videos and there will be some slides following it which sum up all of
my ideas and thoughts given from this audience feedback and how my three texts attract
and address my target audience.
The questions I asked them were:
1. Does the video fit the conventions of a country music video?
2. What do you think the music video is trying to portray?
3. What would you change to improve it?
4. Do the ancillary texts look effective and relate to music video
5. Do you think the texts and the music fit with each other
5. Would you change the ancillary texts?

From this feedback, I have learned that to the majority of my audience, my video fits the
conventions of a country music video with its mysterious and dark feel; established with the strong
narrative element and slow abstract action. I learned that the majority of the people I asked
thought my video was trying to portray the feelings one has when they’ve lost a loved one, which
is what I wanted to hear. The title of the song (‘Girl On Fire') also portrays death as it is an
association, plus they noticed that it was used as a motif/theme throughout with the
candle, fireplace and actress’ red hair. I also learned that the majority of the people I asked felt the
ancillary texts looked effective and linked to the music video with the same female featured on the
advert as in the video, and the pose being typical to advertise a country artist – the use of the
silhouette in the texts linked with the video as well as making the female look elegant which is
expected from the country genre.

Fortunately, my four interviewees all really enjoyed the video and thought it didn’t need any improvements, only a
couple of them gave me some constructive criticism.
To improve my video, I have learned that I should have tried to film the video all in one day because some of the shots
affected the continuity. It was obvious that some shots had been re-filmed due to the change in the weather. To fix
this, I would’ve used some effects/filters on these shots to give the video more continuity. Also, one of my interviewees
felt like I should’ve filmed more shots of fire to give the video more variety instead of repeating the shot over and over
again. I do agree with this comment as I feel if I filmed different shots of fire it would give the video more depth.
Adding to this, I personally think that my video could’ve had another location. While outdoor locations are
conventional to my genre, I felt I should of used one indoor location to give the video more variety.
To improve my ancillary texts, from the audience feedback I have learned that I could possibly improve my choice of
images - particularly on my digipak - as one comment from the feedback was that I had two many medium close up
images of the artist in my digipak and I should’ve taken a picture from a different angle. This could be something I
could reconsider to improve my digipak so that it is able to connect with my target audience more effectively.
I received only one short comment on my poster that regarded the font. My interviewee felt like the font didn’t reflect
the genre of country well enough and it looked unconventional. This is something I am tempted to change as I deem
correct conventions very important for my texts. Additionally, I feel I could have also included more web addresses or
social network connections on my advert that my target audience are aware of (such as Facebook and Twitter) as this
would have given my artist and new album more publicity by establishing connections with different forms of media.
However, I was conscious of over-crowding my advert, as I thought it looking simple and clean was effective in making
it stand out to the audience and easy to read. I thought if too many images or text were present, it may look cluttered
and not fulfil its purpose in advertising the artist's new album effectively.
But overall, I didn’t receive many comments from my interviewees about possible improvements. I think this is because
I knew the interviewees personally and they might have been afraid to reveal their honest opinion. Fortunately, I have
some feedback from an anonymous questionnaire I did. This way, they won’t be afraid to be honest about what the
really think.

This slide links back to the feedback I
collected from the anonymous
questionnaire (on 14th slide). I’ve
previously analysed all of the quantitative
data I collected by interpreting them into
pie charts ad discussing their significance.
In this slide, I will be discussing the
qualitative data I managed to extract from
these completed questionnaires. As a
reminder, qualitative data is based on an
individuals opinion, so while it is
subjective, the anonymity of the
questionnaire makes it valid. I used both
open and closed questions in this
questionnaire which enabled me to extract
both quantitative data and qualitative data
for analysis. The open questions allow the
participant to state their own opinion on
the subject matter, and this is useful. This
feedback was collected in the same way as
the quantitative data, with some
anonymous participants that I didn’t know
personally, watched my video in a
classroom and filled in the questionnaire
based on their thoughts.

From this feedback, I have learned that to the majority of my audience, my video
doesn’t need any improvements and it is as good as it is. Regarding the ancillary
texts, the majority of my audience agreed that my ancillary texts link in well with the
video perfectly. Mainly because there is a strong sense of continuity between them with
the scenery, colours and landscape. They also agreed that the digipak and poster match
well with the same mise-en-scene and elements from the video. I also learned from the
final comments section of my questionnaire that my target audience really enjoyed the
video. I know this from receiving encouraging comments like:
“Great work!”
“It is good and fits the song”
“Nice one!”
“It was actually really good”
“Was good ”
“Good overall products, continuity throughout”
“Your music video was great!”
“Well done ”
I’d consider this feedback incredibly useful in learning what my target audience really
think of my music video in a non-biased way due the anonymity of the questionnaire.

Fortunately, most of my sixteen participants all really enjoyed the video and thought it didn’t need any
improvements, but there were some minor improvements that they did suggest.
To improve my video, I have learned that I should used more transitions, preferably fades/dissolves to
break up the video. A couple of people agreed that the music was too slow and flowy to have straight
cuts. To fix this, I plan to apply a few more transitions to make the video flow better. Another
comment stated that there should be more locations to add to the mise-en-scene of the video, as well
as more costumes. I personally agree with this statement as I think using at least one indoor location
would have given the video more variety. Finally, there was a comment concerning the video’s
narrative. The participant stated that there should have been more of a reference to why she was in
the graveyard. Despite this point, I don’t intend to change this aspect as the whole point of this
abstract element is to let the audience interpret it in their own way.
To improve my ancillary texts, I have learned that I should have incorporated the theme of fire into
them. Some of my participants felt that the lack of fire didn’t follow the continuity of the video
because it’s a major symbol in it. I personally agree with this comment, and I did attempt to
incorporate some images of flames into my ancillary texts but I struggled to do this as it made them
look unconventional and more suitable the rock genre, and not country. But I did try to incorporate
the lighting of a fire into my ancillary texts with the use of the sun, and I thought this looked more
effective and conventional. I also learned that I could have used some different fonts for my poster as
some participants felt that it didn’t stand out well enough. Another comment stated that the text
should’ve been incorporated into the image more opposed to being all in one place at the bottom.
While I agree with these comments, I have to disagree because I did many drafts where I incorporated
the text into the image and it didn’t look very effective, all it did was make the image look very busy
and hard to read. My teacher suggested it should be in a box at the bottom so the image doesn’t lose
any of its focus. I feel having the test all in one place keeps the poster organised and more readable.

The last bit of audience feedback I collected was
from the social networking site, Facebook. Since the
majority of my target audience are most likely to
have a Facebook account of their own, I felt this
was the easiest way to reach out to them. I posted a
status with a link to my video and stated that any
views or feedback would be much appreciated. I
received an overwhelming amount of praise for it
through the amount of likes and the comments. 14+
people ‘liked’ the video which means they enjoyed
it, I interpreted this as positive feedback.

I also received an overwhelming amount of praise for my music
video in the comments. All of the feedback was positive with
people saying that they thoroughly enjoyed it and they could
clearly see that I had taken a lot of time to “perfect” it, I really
appreciated this. Comments like “Good job, Louise!”, “Well
done!” and “This is SO good!” demonstrate further that my
target audience enjoyed the music video to their full capacity. I
also received some comments stating that I should be proud of
myself for making such a good video. Aside for these comments I
also received some personal messages on Facebook from old
acquaintances who said they thought it was fantastic and they
thought I should be proud of what I‟ve created.
As for things I‟ve learned, my audience loved the use of fire in
the appropriate places as well as the contrast between the
actress and the scenery, which made her stand out because of
her hair colour. They also said they loved the lighting, camera
angles and the silhouettes at dusk were “beautiful.” The only
suggestion for improvement I received was concerning the
repeated use of the fireplace., as one person thought I should‟ve
used more examples of fire. This comment is something I‟ve
heard a lot from audience feedback and I agree with it all the
way. If I were make this video again I would try to film different
kinds of fire, like a bonfire etc. The reason for not doing this in
the first place was because I didn‟t have the space to build a
bonfire in my garden.

Overall, I feel that I have learned a lot from my audience feedback
and it has helped me substantially in making a lot of important
decisions concerning my target audience. Furthermore, receiving
feedback from both my peers and people I don’t know allowed
me to collect both biased and non-biased opinions and views
from my target audience. It also helped me clarify any possible
alterations that could be made in order to improve the video is I
ever were to go through this process again. Now I know that
receiving feedback is probably the most important thing someone
can collect during post-production because it lets them know if
they really are catering it towards their specific target audience.
And if it isn’t, their discovery of this will allow them to improve it
in time in order for it to appeal to their target audience as much
as possible.

Evaluation: Question 3

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Evaluation: Question 3