What have I learnt from my audience feedback?

3) WHAT HAVE I LEARNT

FROM MY AUDIENCE

FEEDBACK?

PRE- PRODUCTION AUDIENCE RESEARCH

I created my pre-production survey using the online program

‘Survey Monkey’ which allowed me to ask my target audience both

quantitive and qualitative data to receive both types of feedback


Once completed I had posted a link of it on my Facebook

wall, where people I know could easily provide me with

feedback. I also messaged people directly via Facebook

and also Email


As I distributed my survey, I realised that I was going to obtain a large amount

of people that would participate in it, making this survey extremely reliable (but

not necessarily valid). This is mainly due to how the people I requested

complete the survey don’t represent a generalised public audience (which

would have allowed my response to be more holistic and therefore more

beneficial), as only after I realised they feature many friends of my own that

enjoy hip hop/ rap music, thus being biased. After research I found out that the

majority of people that watch music videos are in fact teenagers, regarding the

people I surveyed as being knowledgeable.

At this moment, I had the intention of using a rap song, but nonetheless still

wanted to receive helpful feedback .


• This made me aware of how often my audience watched

music videos, highlighting whether they’re knowledgeable in

the area, aiding with reliability


Although this is a very ambiguous question, I did this to try and find

out what images would stick out in my audiences head, giving me a

chance to research those videos and find out what they did to

ensure people remembered it.


This response was the most positive in my decision making regarding

my music video. As you can see the most common answer was ‘Rap’

and along with my own intentions I decided on making a rap music

video. I learnt that people’s opinions can actually make one reconsider

their ideas…


I had learnt that this question wasn’t instrumental in my music video, but

nonetheless still intentionally asked this question as I wanted to see if

their was any sort of correlation between ‘favourite music video’ and

‘favourite artist’.


The response here was also eye-opening and helped me. People

responding could more than 1 box, showing that 85% of ALL people

responding opted for an up-beat and fun song. The second alternative

was also realistic and taking these 2 high demanded results back, I did my

very best to include them.


This wasn’t my only method for my

pre-production research. I also

spoke to people ranging from aged

6- 65+ which also broadened my

perspective a lot more than I

originally thought. I did this 1 on 1

to get their opinions on my ideas,

and also went through a variety of

synaesthesia tasks, which would

give me the opportunity to see what

immediately springs to my viewers

minds

When speaking to people in a 1 on 1 styled interview, I explained that we also had to create two ancillary

texts in the form of a digipack cover and a website. I was told by numerous people that coherence between

all of my media products would entice the audience into potentially buying all 3 products, therefore this was

pivotal in my decision to choose the same fonts, colours and effects, as I have used very similar if not the

same styles in all of my products.

To gain a better perspective of how other well known music artists collaborate all their products together, I

was advised to research and learn about what creates effective coherence within a music video and how they

can apply this to their CD covers and also their websites. This helped make me aware of potential mistakes,

yet also how to achieve when designing them all.

POST-PRODUCTION AUDIENCE RESEARCH

After using Survey Monkey for my pre-production survey, I felt very comfortable with the

format I received it in so repeated it for the viewers who watched it externally by

themselves. I didn’t feel any form of numerical feedback would have been as helpful as

qualitative so opted for as much verbal response as possible, this being the reason for my

decision to have a Q&A session after the first viewing of my video.




Although similar to my pre-production survey I opted to use Survey Monkey again, I also

went for a more personal method in exposing my music video to people at school, which

gave me the chance to invite people to view the first screening of my music video. Other

than teachers, it would be the first time my target audience would be seeing it so I could

witness their expressions throughout.

To make people aware of my video I created a poster that I stuck up around my school

informing people of where to be at what time


Around 20 people were present for the viewing, which was more than I was expecting but due to other Media Studies students inviting a variety of people as well, they were able to stay and view mine.


When asking questions in a Q&A session, I asked one of my friends who was also

featured in the music video to record me so we could remember all the answers and

comments made about the video. Unfortunately, there was no audio for some strange

reason, which didn’t help me at all, but luckily managed to remember certain comments/

answers that stood out to me.


One of my first queries was to discover whether the audience appreciated some of the

humerous scenes we intended to create. After reviewing, answers stated in the Q&A and also

on my survey monkey, it was evident that the majority of the audience found this amusing.


As you can see, everyone agreed that the intended humour was indeed effective

One major aspect of my music video, which was the most original

element of it was the use of the GoPro camera. I really wanted this

to be a success, as I spent a lot of time preparing all the scenes

with it and also time organising the use of it. My intention was to

make it add a personal touch, producing a more intense and also

helping add emotion.

Similar to my ‘Friends’ scene, my target audience and I were in

sync and the messages aimed at the audience were heard, and the

GoPro camera had a really positive effect on the audience.

I was obviously hoping to produce a perfect piece of work, but it was inevitable that there was

going to be aspects of the video that people didn’t like. Taking this into account, I was open to

any negative comments and criticisms that my target audience was willing to give me. Criticisms

mentioned were mainly about the accuracy of the lip syncing, irrelevance of additional character

and also the actions made by one of the singers (lack of it).

“This characters not doing much throughout”

The input of this 3rd character was deemed “irrelevant” and “unnecessary”

As well as negative feedback, I was very pleased to be able to read

so positive feedback about a variety of different elements…

The “originality” and “creativity” of my music video involved the use of my GoPro camera

Our intended portrayal of teenagers was “extremely amusing” and also “very accurate and well rehearsed”

I discovered that audience feedback is extremely important and if I was to re-do

my music video (taking into account all of the achievements and also the

mistakes made) I would have asked more specific and detailed questions that

would have been more help to me. Looking back, I can see that the questions I

asked were quite generalised and although they were helpful at the time, better

questions could have been asked.

As mentioned, the fact that I asked people on my Facebook resulted in an invalid

response as I knew most of the people responding. I would have also chosen

another alternative to just a Q&A session as this did not work out, so I would

also make and print out detailed questions that would have been distributed.

Although the majority of people are inexperienced in this area, having my any

people from my audience visit me during my editing sessions, could have

produced more positive results, as they will be able to tell me what they like and

also offer substitutions

I had learnt that the combination between all 3 of my media product (music

video, digipack cover and website) were all in sync and linked very well together.

It was said the use of similar and simple colours along with the font were the

main features in constructing this coherence.

Music video font Digipack cover font Website font

Also, I really felt that inviting a small group to come and view my music video,

was more beneficial then just creating a Survey Monkey. It allowed me to ask

whatever questions I wanted to ask and this was dependent on their responses

and expressions. In-depth detailed was also acquired, which was a lot more

useful that just a “yes” or “no” answer.

The End

Hope you enjoyed it

Adam Gold

Education

What have I learnt from my audience feedback?