1. The document discusses audience feedback received from a questionnaire and interviews about a music video and single release. Key findings included that the audience preferred an illustrative narrative that matched the song lyrics visually and wanted the video shot in a forest/field setting.
2. Based on the feedback, the artist decided to use screenshots from the video on the digipak and include both the artist and another person shown in the video on the packaging despite some suggestions otherwise. Testing with friends found the digipak to look professional and appealing to the intended genre.
3. For the website, the artist took inspiration from other popular artists' sites in designing an effective homepage that tied together the single, video, and digipak
What I Learned from Audience Feedback on My Music Project
1. What have I learnt from my audience feedback?
Pre-production audience
research:
2. I used a program called “Sogo Survey” to create my
questionnaire. I had previous experience with this site for
various other questionnaires or surveys I have made and
so I was familiar with the format of it. The site was useful as
it enabled me to ask both quantitative and qualitative
questions.
This was an
advantage
as I was
going to receive a large amount of data that by analysing
effectively and in detail will provide me with all the
answers I required. It was essential to me that I could
design a custom questionnaire so that it was personalised
and recognisable as being associated with the single and
artist brand. Qualitative questions are open ended which
means people answering the questionnaire feel like they
are being personally addressed and are more likely to
expand and elaborate on their answers as they believe
they are a significant asset to the production.
3. 2. I then advertised and distributed my questionnaire
through various social networking sites such as Facebook
and twitter. In addition I asked the twitter account for
Sogosurvey to advertise my questionnaire on twitter which
they did.
3. As the
questionnaire was posted online and was advertised by
cast members and other free promotional sites such as
Sogosuvey, I had no control over who was taking my
questionnaire; it was purely an opportunity volunteering
sample. This is therefore an unreliable sample of
4. participants, however it may be valid as a large number
of people ranging in ages and gender responded to the
questionnaire.
Debatably, I should have asked a target audience
specifically that were interested in pop indie music to
5. respond to the questionnaire. I had already chosen my
song and so possibly should have considered this prior to
releasing the questionnaire for public responding.
Moreover, they can be considered a „more
knowledgeable‟ audience group and may provide
worthy opinions and be slightly more representative of my
target population.
4. This confirmed by decision to focus on colour and
lighting, specifically setting the camera to the exact
correct white balance in order to achieve a realistic
effect. It also surprised me as I did not think that my
audience would have a particular interest in
instrumentation. Gladly I was mistaken as my track has a
0.27 second guitar instrumental section.
6. 0
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Numberofpeopleselectingfrom
options/67
Which features of a music video make you want to watch
it?
5. The feedback I received informed me that they would
prefer the narrative to be illustrative. This means a literal
representation of what the lyrics are saying is matched by
the videography. This was vital information as I had
originally wanted to tell the story but in an amplified way
so as to appear more abstract and ambiguous. I decided
to take this feedback in to consideration and re-designed
my storyboard to accommodate this demand. I executed
this by focusing more on telling the story of the lyrics
through the characters.
7. 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
A story that matches or is very
associated with the lyrics
A story that picks out elements of the
lyrics and exaggerates them
A completely unrelated/ random
storyline
No storyline - I just like to see the
artist perform
What kind of narrative do you like to see in a music video?
6. I found it to be extremely insightful when I asked my
audience to listen to the track for the song I was using and
write down all the thoughts they had. For example:
I also gathered general advice such as to ensure that the
storyline stays meaningful and intriguing to keep the
audience attentive.
8. Which locations do you think would be ideal for
shooting this music video?
Forest/ Field
Recording
Studio
A House
Graveyard
Beach
Party
Other
7. As I had hoped for, over 35% of responders felt that a
field or forest location was best suited to the song and
genre. This was important and useful as I was working on
a zero budget production, filming on free or public
property was essential. Though I did essay to hire a
“I think it definitely needs an autumny video, with of shots
of trees, forests, natural scenes etc. Shoot partly in a
studio setting, but stick to the same brown/green tones,
and make sure that was she's wearing fits in with the
autumn theme. I think a mix of performance and storyline
would work” – anonymous.
9. recording studio for an hour of filming, I did not manage
to do so. Despite this, I believed that by filming in the
primary chosen location that was most wanted by the
audience, I had achieved in satisfying the majority‟s
desires.
9. I decided to collate further information by carrying out
an unstructured interview. This means that I will ask a
starting question and allow the interviewee to respond,
after which I will ask another question leading entirely
from the answer they have given. I executed this form of
receiving feedback by using a sample of my friends and
family.
I setup the interviewing room to match one of a 1 on 1
interview. I found a significant positive correlation
between the age of the interviewee and the thoughtful
analysis they provided. Older family members resonated
with the artist who was experiencing loss and grief.
Through this type of audience feedback I learned that
audience need more open questions where the content
of their answers is valued and evaluated. This is primarily
because they are not restricted to specific answers which
may not even represent their true ideas.
10. 10.
Effect of audience feedback on digipak outcome
With more than a quarter of the responders to the
questionnaire stating that they are concerned with the
narrative being portrayed and the vitality of having a
storyline, I decided to use screenshots for my digipak. I
did this in order to adhere to what was preferred amongst
my target market, but also to accurately relate the
digipak to my music video, which my friends also
mentioned was crucial.
11. 11. I also challenged their suggestions of not putting the
girl on the digipak as it would not promote the artist
entirely. Additionally, it may indicate that they are a duet
and not a sole artist. For this reason I doubted I could
achieve my primary intention. Despite this, my actual aim
was to create a digipak which would promote the single
as well as the artist. I considered that 90% of the music
video shots included both of the girls and so I felt it would
be appropriate to use an image with both of them, whilst
still promoting the singer as a solo artist.
I did this by designing the front cover with just a symbol of
Amy, alas it was a silhouette and not a facially
recognisable image, and I used an image of both the
artist and the girl on the back cover. Post my final design
12. for the digipak, I sent the images to my friends and family
who now agreed that the image was a sound and
effective choice. Furthermore, 10 out of 12 friends that I
asked if they think the digipak looked sellable said yes.
The remaining two said no because it did not appeal to
their music taste and they could tell that the genre of the
single was indie or pop by the images used. This was in a
way good feedback as it affirmed my objectives had
been met in producing a digipak that also conformed to
the genre of the single.
12. Effectiveness of audience feedback on website page.
When creating my website homepage I reminded myself
that it was important for the website to be representative
of the single and the digipak so that fans can make a
mental link between all three products. After evaluating
my friends and family‟s common opinion, that the mirror
was the most iconic symbol of the entire video, that I
should use this as my website homepage background
image. I carried this out by using the same style of texts,
fonts and imagery whilst attempting to show variety and
extensive range of ability I have in editing images.
Besides this, I was also recommended to research and
analyse other pop artists website homepages and how
they advertise their latest single. This proved extremely
effective audience advice as I was able to take
13. inspiration from several websites of famous artists and
apply their concepts concerning style, colour scheme
and other pages included on their site to the website.