Audience feedback was useful for the student at multiple stages of creating a music video and promotional materials for a band. After creating initial ideas for advertisements and the album digipak, feedback indicated changes were needed to avoid unintended messages. For the video, feedback improved the opening title sequence and confirmed conventions from the genre were effectively used. Overall, feedback validated the project was entertaining, high-quality, and aligned with the indie/alternative rock genre.

1. What have you learned from
audience feedback?

2. My original digipak idea When first designing my album I had planned to create a black and white digipak, similar to Jake
Bugg’s debut album, as I felt that this would fit with the genre of indie/alternative rock and
would also draw the eye because it subverts the convention of using colour and would
therefore be different from other albums. I chose to take a picture of Jonny with a serious facial
expression as this is the expression Jake Bugg had on his album cover.
However during the creation of this digipak my classmates gave me feedback about my black
and white photo. They thought that Jonny looked like he’d been taking drugs due to the bags
under his eyes and his facial expression. As my product is aimed at both genders between the
ages of 14 and 20, the idea of taking drugs is not something I would want to promote, because
my audience may be influenced by musicians and therefore I do not want Jonny to look like he
has taken drugs.
For this reason I decided to redesign my digipak in order to make it very clear that the genre of
music is indie/alternative rock. I decided to use a picture that I had taken during filming which
shows Jonny playing guitar as this shows that his music will have an acoustic style. I made this
image look like a polaroid picture as this also relates to the genre and also connects with the
polaroid in the video. I chose to use a map for the panels of the digipak, as I felt that this had
clear connotations of freedom and nature. In addition when I asked my audience they also felt
that using a map would show that the style of music is indie/alternative rock.
My final digipak

3. Audience feedback was really useful in helping me decide which style of magazine advert to
create. I constructed two initial advert ideas and asked some audience members what they
thought about each one, which they preferred and which aspects they liked most within
each.
These were my initial ideas:

4. I then got feedback from some members of my target audience:
Vicky liked that use of star rating on the advert on the left as it “shows that audience
that the album is good”. She also liked the inclusion of the phrase “DEBUT ALBUM
OUT NOW” because it tells the audience that they can go and buy the album at any
time they like. She also said that the black header and footer on the poster draws the
eye as it contrasts the pastel colours of the map. However she also felt that the font
used for the artist name and album name is quite difficult to read because of the
small size; this also meant that the title did not stand out much because the font is
not particularly big. She thought that a big image of Jonny may work more
successfully than the small polaroid because it would be easier to see and would be
more eye catching. She liked the way the map covered the entire background of the
advert on the right and liked the slighter lighter colours as they are “easier on the
eye” and also relate more to the genre of indie rock. However she felt that there was
no need to include the album name and artist name on the polaroid as it is already
written at the top.
Similarly to Vicky, Amber liked the bold phrase on the left advert informing the
audience that the album is out now, as it makes it very clear that it is his first album.
She liked that the guitar is shown within the album cover so that it is clear the Jono
plays guitar. She also liked the “contrast of the white font against the black
background as it makes it easy to read”, however she felt that the darkness of the
black was slightly harsh and does not really work well with the pastel colours of the
map. Amber liked the soft colours of the map background used for the advert on the
right, however she felt that it looked slightly like a travel advert due to the map and
the polaroids; she suggested that I should choose to either use the map background
or the polaroids so that people do not confuse the album advert for a holiday advert.
She really liked that I have included a Twitter @ on both advert ideas as she uses
Twitter a lot and would probably use it to find out more information about Jono.

5. Based on this feedback, I combined and
developed some aspects of each poster and
created my final magazine advert.
I then spoke to the same audience members
again, and found that they felt my new
advert is far more eye catching, unique and
appealing. Heather also said that she feels it
connotes the genre of alternative rock more
successfully now due to the simple layout
and focus on the photo of the artist. They all
liked that I had continued to use the star
ratings to suggest that the album is very
good. In addition Vicky liked the way in which
the words 'debut album' are bold and draw
the attention to the fact that it is his first
album. This would encourage new listeners
to find out more about his music. They also
expressed that, although it does not use the
convention of showing the a picture of album
cover in the centre, the way that I have used
the picture from the album cover polaroid
and the use of the map background show
that it is promoting the album. Amber also
believed that the use of a UK map provides
context about Jono's life as the audience will
know that he is from England.

6. Following this I showed my
ancillary products to my class and
got some feedback (shown in the
picture above). My peers gave very
positive feedback about the use of
conventions and connotations;
however they felt that the artist
name was difficult to read due to
the joined up letters and they
suggested that it could be seen to
say 'Jana'. For this reason I decided
to remove these joins.

7. When creating our music video audience feedback was useful throughout. For example at the very beginning we used a
poll to assess whether we had chosen the correct song.
Audience feedback was also really helpful after I had finished my rough
cut for the video because, after showing many audience members, I
discovered that many people found the opening title of the video quite dull due to the use of black and white and
therefore did not draw their attention. They felt that I should use a lighter colour for the background as they
recognised that pastel colours are conventional within the genre.
For this reason I decided to change the title of my video to include a map used in my ancillary texts as this shows a
clear connection between the three products and also fits with the genre as it features a range of pastel colours. In
addition I chose to use the font from the digipak and magazine advert as the dark colour will stand out from the map
and will show a connection between the products and make them easy to recognise.
Below I have shown a screen shot of the title before and after my audience feedback:

8. Audience feedback was particularly useful after I created the rough cut of our music video. I put the rough cut on
Facebook and asked people for feedback about the video.

9. This audience feedback was all very positive; this was encouraging as it reassured me that we had created a video
which is entertaining, appealing and good quality. The feedback was also really helpful in showing that we had used
conventions of the genre. I created a Wordle near the beginning of the project which showed many of the
conventions of indie/alternative rock. My audience feedback from Facebook shows that I have used many of the
conventions of the genre.
Jenny, George, Beth James, George, Chloe, Vicky and James and Elliot Chloe, Jenny and
and Natalie all noticed Carly all noticed that we had pointed out that he Heather all said they
that during many shots done a lot of editing between liked the lighting enjoyed the outdoor
we have created a shots to make the video flow. used throughout. scenes such as the
visual representation beach and the
of the song lyrics. woods. Natural
George commented settings are a
“the music ties in common convention
really well with what is within
happening” and indie/alternative
Natalie believes “the music videos, this is
video matches the because these
song”. This shows that locations have
we have successfully connotations of
used the convention of freedom which is
connecting the often seen to
storyline and with the connect with indie
lyrics. music.
The majority of my audience members commented on the emotion we have created within our video. Heather
described the video as “cute” and “sad” which suggests that we have successfully shown Jess and Tom’s relationship
in a positive (cute) way, and Jonny’s situation is a negative and sad way. In addition George said “I feel sorry for Jonny”
which shows that we have created sympathy for Jono, and also shows that our video does appeal to boys as well as
girls, possibly because they can relate to Jono.

10. Audience feedback has been a great deal of help
throughout my project. Through social
networks, polls and interviews, my audience
have helped me make decisions during the
research, planning, construction and evaluation
of my three products. This feedback has
assisted me in creating three products which
can be enjoyed by our target audience.